The Jade Chronicles
by Stone Jade
Summary: A series of short stories expanding on the development of the relationship between Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade. Canon-compliant. Covers the period from 11 ABY (I, Jedi) to 29 ABY (end of the New Jedi Order).
1. Table of Contents

**NOTE**

The stories here contain spoilers for the following _Star Wars_ novels/short stories/comics (in roughly in-universe chronological order):

_The Truce at Bakura; The Courtship of Princess Leia; Heir to the Empire; Dark Force Rising; The Last Command; Dark Empire; Dark Empire II: Empire's End; I, Jedi; Jedi Search; Dark Apprentice; Champions of the Force; Darksaber; Planet of Twilight; Before the Storm; Shield of Lies; Tyrant's Test; The New Rebellion; Ambush at Corellia; Assault at Selonia; Showdown at Centerpoint; Specter of the Past; Vision of the Future; Union; Judge's Call; Survivor's Quest; Vector Prime; Edge of Victory I: Conquest; Dark Tide I: Onslaught; Dark Tide II: Ruin; Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial; Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse; Balance Point; Edge of Victory I: Conquest; Edge of Victory II: Rebirth; Star by Star; Dark Journey; Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream._

* * *

_**TABLE OF CONTENTS**_

**11.0 ABY - **_Jade Apprentice - _Mara speaks to Luke after returning to Yavin IV briefly to deliver news of Mirax to Corran. (During _I, Jedi_).

**13.0 ABY**_** - **__Jade Recovery - _Luke wrestles with Callista's departure. Mara visits. (One week after_ Planet of Twilight_)._  
_

**17.0 ABY - **_Jade Waltz - _Talon Karrde and Mara Jade attend a formal dance commemorating Leia's return to power. (2 weeks after_ The New Rebellion_)._  
_

**18.0 ABY - **_Jade Evolution - _Luke is upset after the death of Gaeriel. Mara tries to cheer him up. (Immediately after_ Showdown at Centerpoint_)._  
_

**19.0 ABY**_** - **__Jade Revelation - _Luke and Mara are getting married. First, they have to tell everyone. (During_ Vision of the Future_)._  
_

**19.5 ABY - **_Jade Sabre - _Luke gives his new wife a present. (One month after_ Union_)._  
_

**26.0 ABY - **_Jade Rebirth - _Mara's final battle with her disease, and the subsequent birth of her son Ben. (During_ Edge of Victory II: Rebirth_)._  
_

**27.0 ABY**_** - **__Jade Dilemma - _Mara has to decide whether to accompany Luke to Coruscant or stay behind with Ben. (_During Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream_)._  
_

**23.0 ABY** - _Jade Attachment_ - Luke wrestles with the issue of Jedi marriage. **New story posted 04/11/13.**

**29.0 ABY **- _Jade Anniversary _- Luke and Mara celebrate their tenth anniversary. **New story posted 04/22/13.**

**20.0 ABY **- _Jade Reflection_ - Mara, Mirax, and Leia share drinks and stories. **New story posted 05/13/13.**

* * *

For many (including me), the progression of Luke's and Mara's relationship during the Hand of Thrawn duology was somewhat jarring. Very little effort was made by the authors to expand on the relationship between the two during the Bantam era. Blame this on whomever you'd like, but at this point fans of this pairing are unlikely to get any new official stories featuring these two prior to their marriage, as the New Republic era is all-but-dead as far as major plotlines are concerned.

There have been a number of fan fiction authors that have taken to attempting to fill in the gaps in the story of Luke and Mara. The following stories are my attempt. There are many other excellent stories out there which do likewise. Any similarities between my stories and those of other fan fiction authors are purely coincidence, as I studiously avoid reading fanfic stories set in time periods in which I'm working until my stories are finished.

The stories here are intended to fit into the existing canon as much as possible. There are some aspects that can be considered "internal canon", which simply means that some of my (chronologically) later stories make reference to earlier stories.

I hope you enjoy the stories.


	2. Jade Apprentice

_**JADE APPRENTICE**_

**11 ABY - **During _Jedi Academy_ trilogy and _I, Jedi_

Mara speaks to Luke after returning to Yavin IV briefly to deliver news of Mirax to Corran.

* * *

Mara entered the room adjacent to the one where Luke slept. She noticed Tionne sitting quietly in meditation, and briefly considered how to sneak past the woman. It was too late, though, as Tionne opened her eyes, clearly sensing her presence in the room.

Her greeting was less-than-affectionate. "Mara."

Mara tried to smile at her, but didn't quite succeed. "Tionne. Can I see him? I wanted to say goodbye."

Tionne frowned. Mara had always known Tionne to be kind and generous, but all she was sensing from the other woman now was faint anger and hostility.

Tionne responded. "He's sleeping." Her eyes narrowed. "You're leaving again?"

Mara was starting to get impatient with her, and snapped a bit. "I was just passing through. Had to drop something off for Keiran, and thought I'd say hello."

Tionne sighed, and closed her eyes again. "Perhaps you should just leave. You made your choice to abandon him, and to return now only to leave again is unacceptably cruel. Goodbye, Mara."

The undertones of anger in Tionne's voice shocked Mara. And enraged her. She snapped back venomously. "I don't stay where I'm not _needed_, Tionne, and all of you made it perfectly clear that you didn't want or need me around here."

Tionne's eyes opened again, and the transformation in the woman jarred Mara. Suddenly Tionne was no longer angry, just sad and serene. The woman sighed. "You think you were not needed here?"

Mara set her jaw, prepared to argue. "I _know_ that I wasn't. I had no friends at this place, save for Keiran. And he certainly did not need me here."

Tionne's eyes narrowed. "Perhaps you did not have many friends among the trainees here, Mara, although that was as much your own doing as ours. But you've left someone out, intentionally or otherwise."

It was clear of whom Tionne was speaking. Mara huffed. "_He_ didn't need me here, either, obviously. And he _certainly_ didn't care if I was here or not."

Tionne sighed, and all of her anger faded away. "You are either gravely mistaken or are being deliberately defensive. Your leaving hurt Master Skywalker badly, at least as much as when Gantoris died, and as much as when Kyp left. Perhaps even more so. That much was clear to me, even without the Force. I would not have you hurt him like that again."

Mara suddenly felt sick. "I want to see him, before I leave. I want to make sure that he's ok."

Tionne nodded. "I will not stop you from looking in on him. Please do not wake him. He needs to rest." With that she closed her eyes again.

Mara sighed and quietly opened the door to Luke's room. She nearly gasped as she saw Luke lying there. _He looks like he aged a hundred years since the last time I was here._ She could tell he was sleeping, and fought off the urge to say something to him. Tionne's anger had stung her.

She turned to leave, but heard a soft voice behind her. "Mara."

She turned back to see Luke's eyes open, staring at her.

Mara winced. "I'm sorry to wake you. I promised Tionne I wouldn't. I was just going to check on you before I left. Go back to sleep."

She saw only sadness in Luke's eyes. "Why did you come back, Mara, if you're leaving again?"

She felt a strong feeling of discomfort, but did not lie to him. "I found some information about Mirax, and came to give it to Corran. He told me who he was. I got here right in time to catch the end of the battle."

Luke settled back again and closed his eyes. She thought he was done talking, but he spoke again a moment later. "So you did not come back because of me?"

She hung her head, and suddenly regretted having come here in the first place. "No."

"I see." Luke's voice betrayed little sadness, but Mara got a sense of his anguish through the Force, clearly leaking out through mental barriers made weaker by his battle with Exar Kun.

Mara sighed. _This isn't going well_. "I need to go, Skywalker. People waiting on me, and all that."

Luke opened his eyes again, and looked at her. "Will you not come back, and complete your training?"

Mara shook her head. "It's clear this isn't working for me, not now."

"Will you come back some day?"

Mara looked away for a moment. "I don't know."

Luke was quiet for a long moment. Finally he responded. "I hope you do, Mara. You will always be welcome here." With that, he closed his eyes again.

There was nothing left for Mara to say. She mumbled "goodbye, Luke. May the Force be with you," then turned to leave again. Again, a quiet voice stopped her.

"Mara, one more thing. There's a package with your name on it in the top drawer of my desk. I meant to give it to you a long time ago, but never got the chance. Please take it with you when you leave." With that, he settled back again, and this time Mara could tell he was indeed sleeping.

She walked over to the desk, and pulled out a small box labeled _Mara_ from the top drawer. She briefly considered opening it on the spot, but something inside her kept her from doing that.

Leaving, she tried again to slip past Tionne without being noticed. Again she failed.

She hid the package behind her hip as Tionne's eyes opened to look at her. "Did you speak with him?"

Mara shook her head, lying as she left the room. "No."

* * *

Mara managed to return to her ship without further embarrassing encounters, and ordered her crew to take off before retreating to her quarters.

She found herself staring at the box in her hand, suddenly apprehensive. Whatever the gift was, it had been important enough for Skywalker to hang on to for 'a long time', and she wasn't sure she was comfortable with that type of gift. Luke was sometimes overly-sentimental, and she had little use for that emotion.

She sighed as she tore the box open, then frowned as she discovered a simple holo, an unremarkable and unadorned model. Quietly she thumbed it on, and her eyes snapped open in surprise.

It was a picture of her and Luke together. She had no idea who had taken the holo, but she recognized the scene instantly. _Coruscant, right after the end of the Thrawn campaign_. In the holo she and Luke were talking about something, and Mara was instantly mesmerized by the serene smile she saw on her own face, at that time only two years ago.

So much had happened since then. _Luke looks so much younger in this picture_, _but I don't look much different._ Except for the smile. Mara realized she hadn't had occasion to smile very often, in the short years between then and now. Luke had survived a great deal of darkness recently, first with C'baoth, then with the Emperor reborn, then most recently with Exar Kun. Mara couldn't quite admit to herself that her life since then had been equally dark.

She glanced over at her bag, still packed after her rush to leave Yavin 4. In it was her lightsaber, the one that had belonged first to Anakin Skywalker, then briefly to Luke. Mara had been shocked at Luke's gesture at the time, and the years since then had not particularly diminished that shock. That lightsaber had been perhaps the most touching gift anyone had ever given her, and she had not initially wanted to accept.

After all, she hardly deserved it. Sure, she had helped out with C'baoth on Wayland, even perhaps saving Luke's life in the process. Yes, she had given up killing him, and had maybe even started to like him and admire him. But all that didn't make her worthy of taking Luke's only physical link to his father away from him, especially since everything she had done had been for her own selfish reasons.

Luke hadn't seen it the same way. He had given her the lightsaber because he respected her, because he trusted her. And, she knew, because something in him had told him that it was _right_. That the lightsaber was something she needed to have, for reasons neither of them had known, or indeed even still did know.

She and Luke had become friends, after Wayland. Maybe_ friends_ wasn't even a strong-enough word. Looking at her smile on the holo, Mara realized that Luke had been the best friend she'd ever had, then, when that picture had been taken. Her confidant, her savior. The only person in her life who had trusted and respected her implicitly, even as she threatened over and over to kill him. He had seen something in her that no one else had ever seen.

Something, over the course of the past few years, had changed him. They were no longer close friends. In fact, they were barely even friends at all. The man she had respected, admired, even loved to the extent that she was capable, was _gone_. She suddenly found herself wondering if the Luke she had known would ever come back, and fearing that he would not.

She sat quietly, staring at the holo for a long time.

A deep sadness welled up in Mara as she thought about her last exchange with Luke. _Will you come back some day? I don't know. I hope you do, Mara._ She knew she didn't feel needed or wanted at the Academy, but she knew that was only an excuse. She didn't know if she would come back because she didn't know how to cope there, without Luke. Without the Luke she had known, the one who had been transformed somehow into a stranger.

She closed her eyes, her decision suddenly made. _Yes, Luke. Someday, I will come back. When you do._

She thumbed the holo off and, setting it aside, lay down on her bed. She hoped for a quick descent to sleep, but something happened then that had not happened for a long time.

With a heavy heart, and a growing feeling of despair for her future, Mara Jade wept.


	3. Jade Recovery

_**JADE RECOVERY**_

**13 ABY **- One week following _Planet of Twilight_

Luke wrestles with Callista's departure. Mara visits.

* * *

"No, Leia, I don't want to talk about it." The edge behind Luke Skywalker's voice was unmistakable, but his sister was not used to being ignored.

"Luke, you need to talk to someone. I'm sorry that Callista's gone, but you need to move on. You have people waiting for you back at the Academy, and duties to others that are also important."

Luke snorted. His words were dry, with none of the affection that usually characterized his talks with his sister.

"I suppose you're telling me you don't want me around."

"You know Han and I love having you here on Coruscant, Luke, but it's been a week, and you've been moping around the place like you've lost your way."

Luke sighed. Only a week had passed since his adventure on Nom Chorios had ended. Only a week, since he and Callista had parted forever. The greatest love of his life, her loss of the Force had made their relationship too much to bear, at least for Callista. _She couldn't accept that I didn't care, that it didn't matter to me that she couldn't feel the Force. We could have gotten through it _together_, one way or another_.

Leia privately worried as she watched her brother. She had seen him heartbroken before, many times. Luke had lost his father, had lost Jedi trainees, had lost countless friends in even more numerous battles. Luke had been unlucky in love, too. Too many times to count, fate or his duties had taken him away from someone special. Gaeriel Captison, Tanith Shire, others.

But this time was different. Nothing could have kept Luke from Callista. Not duty, not time, not distance. Nothing, apparently, but the Force. The Force was with Luke, and it had abandoned Callista. Leia knew nothing she could say would help Luke move on, at least not right away. But to see her brother in this state was intolerable.

A buzz from the door interrupted her. She looked at Luke, and it was clear he had no interest in answering the door, even though they were in his quarters.

"Ok, Luke, I'll go see who it is." Leia left the room, crossing the adjacent room to the front door. Opening it, Leia saw the last face she'd expected.

"Mara."

"Hello Leia. I came to see your brother." Mara Jade was a smuggler, and at least nominally a Jedi-in-training. The former Emperor's Hand had been a solid ally to Luke over the years, but the redheaded woman was antagonistic to the extreme, and Leia was sure that the last thing her brother needed at the moment was to see someone with the degree of hostility that Mara often displayed.

"Actually, Mara, Luke's not feeling well. Perhaps you could come back at a better time…"

Mara snorted. "I heard all about it. I also don't particularly care. I'm on Coruscant for another two hours, then I'm gone. So, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go talk to your brother, not-feeling-well or otherwise."

Leia and Mara had never been close, and Leia did not trust the younger woman, despite the key role she had played in the Thrawn campaign, and in other situations. Leia found, though, that any objection was useless. Mara had already walked straight past her, and into Luke's bedroom.

* * *

Luke Skywalker looked up as he felt a familiar presence enter the room. _Mara Jade_. He tried to give her a weak smile, but failed, and noted Mara's blink of surprise at the look on his face. Along with surprise he felt a small wave of concern coming from the woman, although she quickly quashed the feeling.

"On your feet, Skywalker. I'm on planet for a few hours, and you're taking me to Spacer's to buy me a drink."

Luke shook his head slowly, then looked away. His voice was as quiet and as sad as Mara had ever heard. "Some other time, Mara. I'm not really in the mood, and I wouldn't be good company."

Mara snorted again, and walked over to Luke and grabbed him by the arm, roughly yanking him to his feet. "That wasn't a request, Luke. Let's go. Now."

Luke felt himself practically dragged from the room, straight past Leia. Mara blatantly ignored his sister's protests, and in an instant they were out the door and on their way to the Spacer's Lounge. Neither spoke for the entire walk, and Luke could feel nothing more in Mara's demeanor than hints of haste, determination, and a bit of apprehension.

Arriving at the bar, Mara marched straight up to the maître de, a modified protocol droid. "Table for two, in the back. Two mugs of ale, and make sure we're not disturbed after that." Luke nearly protested at her tone, but noted that the droid took the orders with good grace. Luke, of course, had not noticed the twenty credit chip passed from Mara to the droid.

They soon found themselves at a quiet table in the back of the room. Two mugs of ale arrived promptly, and the waiter droid departed. Luke felt very weary, and the hard look in Mara's green eyes did little to calm his nerves.

Finally her gaze softened. For all of her usual self-assurance, her first words were hesitant. "So, Skywalker, uh…how are you?"

Luke shook his head, and looked down for a moment. Looking back up, he noted some concern in Mara's features, which was not an emotion she commonly displayed on the rare occasions their paths crossed.

Finally he replied, softly. "Actually, I've been better, Mara. I suppose you heard about Callista, and you're here to force me to talk about it. Did Leia put you up to this?"

Mara laughed out loud, a sharp bark of near-amusement. "Skywalker, I would be the last person in the galaxy your dear sister would call. Besides, do you really think I'd make a special trip to Coruscant just to drag you out of your self-pity?"

Luke's eyes narrowed at Mara's dry retort. "Then why are you here?"

Mara shook her head. "If you must know, I had to make a quick delivery run, and just happened to be in the neighborhood. I had a short layover here on-planet, and I figured I'd stop by and see if you were in as bad a shape as I'd heard." She chuckled quietly. "I think it's actually worse than I was told, which is not something I would have believed possible."

Luke didn't even bother asking how she had heard. "So are you here to give me your sympathies, or here to revel in my pain and sorrow?"

Mara chuckled again, although there was neither joy nor mirth in her laugh. "I stopped reveling in your pain and sorrow on Wayland, Luke, and I'm not here to rub it in or tell you 'I told you so', even though I could."

Her gaze softened considerably. "Believe it or not, Skywalker, I do care about you. Things haven't been exactly smooth between us the last few years, but I don't like seeing you in pain. Especially needless pain."

Luke felt a bit of anger at this last, seemingly flippant remark. "I don't want your sympathy, Mara. I know you never liked Callista, but I did love her, and you have no idea what it's like to lose…"

Mara cut him off abruptly. Her words were quiet, and almost sad. "You're right, Luke. I have no idea what it's like to lose someone I love. Only someone who's ever loved does, and I've never been in love. So you don't want my sympathy, fine. I don't have much sympathy for you anyway. As far as I'm concerned, the fact that you had love like that, and had someone love you as much as Callista obviously did, makes you far more lucky than I'm ever likely to be."

Mara's words cut through Luke's anger like a vibroblade. The quiet sincerity in Mara's voice washed away the rest of his ire instantly, leaving only his sadness and feeling of loss in their wake. Now, though, those emotions were matched by some concern and sadness for Mara, so heartfelt her last statement had been.

Luke was silent for what seemed to him like an eternity. He had no idea what to say, and his eventual question didn't help the matter any.

"What about Lando?"

Mara winced. _It's not the right time to talk about that_. She sighed and shook her head. "That's complicated, Luke, but my point still stands. Someday I'll tell you more about that, but we're talking about you right now. I'm not the one moping around the house all day and driving my family crazy."

Luke looked away again. "You're probably right, of course. But it is hard. My one true love is gone, probably forever, and I can't see a way back to a normal life now."

Mara shook her head. "What's that thing you're always telling your trainees? 'Always in motion is the future'? Whether Callista was your 'one true love' or not, and whether your relationship with her is over forever or not, you still need to move on." She smirked. "Besides, there are probably trillions of different women on millions of different worlds who would kill to be Mrs. Luke Skywalker."

This finally cracked Luke's demeanor enough to elicit a small smile. "And a few women who would rather just kill me?"

Mara laughed at that. "I gave that up a long time ago, Skywalker, even though the thought does cross my mind from time to time. Usually when you're off trying to singlehandedly save the galaxy, and mostly failing miserably."

Luke's smile broadened a bit. "Or when you have to come rescue me from myself?"

Mara smiled back. "Just returning the favor. You rescue me, I rescue you, that's how our relationship works, right? Besides, having the great Jedi Master Luke Skywalker owe me one never hurts." She rolled her eyes during this last statement.

Luke shook his head at her sarcasm, but he had to admit to himself that he felt a little better. His words took on a sarcastic tone of their own. "So that's your great rescue? Coming here and telling me to get over it and get on with my life? That's the same thing everyone else has been saying for the last few days." He took the edge off the words with a small, playful smile, suddenly enjoying the banter.

Mara just stared at him. "You clearly needed someone a little more convincing to get it through your thick head. Now, go, and get on with your life. Next time I have to come and do something like this, I won't be nearly so kind and understanding."

Luke's sharp laugh was loud enough to cause heads to turn their way. "Mara Jade, grief counselor and diplomat. Who would have guessed?"

Mara shook her head and gave him an unreadable look. She looked down at her chrono, and blinked twice. "Blast it, I need to get back. Sorry to drink and run, Skywalker. See you around, and remember, no more self-pity. It's unbecoming." With that, she stood and turned to leave.

Luke stood too. "Hey…"

She turned back. "What?"

Luke gave her a small smile. "Thanks, Mara. Really."

Mara walked the two steps back to Luke, and gave him a quick hug and, surprising them both, a kiss on the cheek. "Until next time, Luke."

And with that, she was gone.

Luke sat back down, and contemplated Mara's words for a moment as he finished his ale. Leaving a handful of credits on the table, he took a deep breath and headed back to his apartment.

* * *

Leia was still there when he returned, obviously fuming. She met him at the door.

"I'm so sorry, Luke. I should have tried harder to stop her. The last thing you need right now…"

Luke interrupted her with a smile and a hug. "Don't worry, Leia. There was no harm done. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go find Artoo and prep for the trip back to Yavin. Thank you for trying to help me through this past week. I know I've been difficult."

With that, Luke left a shocked Leia behind as he made his way into his bedroom to begin packing. Leia stood there for a long moment, open-mouthed, as she suddenly found herself reconsidering her stance on Mara Jade.


	4. Jade Waltz

_**JADE WALTZ**_

**17 ABY **- Two weeks after _The New Rebellion_

Talon Karrde and Mara Jade attend a formal dance commemorating Leia's return to power.

* * *

The last two weeks had been frantic for Han and Leia Solo. The defeat of Kueller on Almania had ended the threat posed by the Dark Jedi to the New Republic, and had allowed Leia to resume her position as President. Han had also been exonerated of the Senate bombing in the process, although there was still some lingering distrust among some Senators of both the Solos.

Already the Grand Convocation Chamber was being rebuilt, but Han and Leia were not in the Palace this night for that reason. Someone had decided that a formal event should commemorate Leia's return to the office of the President, and thus the Solos were forced to spend the evening in formal wear, despite their residual weariness from the most recent rebellion against the New Republic.

Han and Leia stood at the end of a receiving line of powerful senators, greeting each important guest as he or she made an entrance into the ballroom. As Leia spoke to a minor noblewoman from Kuat, a murmur went through the crowd. Both turned to look to see what had caused the disruption.

"Talon Karrde is here," Han whispered into Leia's ear. Both instantly recognized the woman on the smuggler's arm, as well. "And Mara Jade." Karrde and Jade had played a key role in defeating Kueller, and had likely saved both Leia and her brother Luke Skywalker from death at the Dark Jedi's hands, but Karrde was not a popular figure among many of the more powerful members of the Senate.

Han watched as Karrde made his way down the receiving line, and smirked as he saw the interaction between the smuggler and Borsk Fey'lya. There was certainly no love lost between Karrde and the Bothan senator, and the body language of both men reflected this.

It took a few minutes for Karrde to make his way to the end of the line, but finally he was in front of Han and Leia. The smuggler gave a short formal bow to Leia. "Princess, thank you for your kind invitation." Leia nodded to the older man.

This made Han blink twice. _Inviting Talon Karrde to a formal event with many of the New Republic's senators and other important beings was not the best way to get back on everyone's good side_. Han shook his head to himself, then felt Karrde pull him aside.

"Solo, is there someplace we can go talk? I have a little bit of business I'd like to attend to."

Han looked quizzically at Leia, and received only a disinterested nod in return. Shrugging, he motioned for Karrde to follow, and both men headed off to one of the balconies overlooking the ballroom floor, with Mara Jade in tow.

A few short minutes later the three found themselves in balcony 14 overlooking the ballroom. The music was starting up, and Han was the first to speak.

"So, Karrde, what is this business you mentioned?"

The smuggler smiled at him. "We have all night, Captain Solo. Are you in a hurry to get down to the dance floor? I wasn't aware that you were so keen on formal dancing."

Han snorted, but was interrupted by a voice from behind that made all three individuals jump. "I'm sure Han is in no rush to get back downstairs, Captain Karrde."

Han, Karrde, and Mara turned to see Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master, standing behind them with a small grin on his face. The two men both smiled and stood, while Mara simply sat and glared at Luke, clearly angry that she had not sensed his approach.

Karrde spoke first. "Good to see you, Skywalker. You certainly look better than the last time. How are you doing?"

The younger man smiled back. "I'm fully recovered, I think, thanks in no small part to you and Mara. Actually, Talon, you were speaking of dancing, and I wondered if I might borrow your date for a few minutes?"

Karrde nodded. "Be my guest. I'm here on business, and I think Solo and I can handle it without Mara."

Mara cleared her throat, and Karrde found his second-in-command now glaring at him.

"Don't I get a say in this?" Mara asked dryly, in her first words of the evening.

Karrde merely raised his eyebrows at her, but Luke flushed a bit before recovering.

"My apologies. Mara, would you permit me the honor of a dance?"

A long moment passed, and Han thought that the younger woman was going to turn down his brother-in-law, but finally Mara nodded. Luke held out his arm to her, and with a slight sigh, Mara threaded her arm through his and let him escort her down to the dance floor.

Karrde chuckled quietly as he watched them walk away. Turning back to Han, he said, "So, Solo, where were we?"

Han nodded. "You had some business you wanted to discuss."

Karrde laughed. "Actually, there are probably a few things we can talk about, but my main business here tonight is to be a discomfort to Fey'lya and some of the other Senators. At least, that was my impression when I got the invitation from your lovely wife. I figured sitting here with you and having a few drinks was as good a way as any to accomplish my mission, if you'll oblige me."

* * *

As Mara and Luke made it to the dance floor, the band started up a familiar tune. Mara sighed internally. _Great, we start with the Mantooine Minuet_. _Palpatine's favorite dance. This could be a long night_.

She looked at Luke, suddenly noticing that he was staring at her. She stared back, and he blushed and looked away for a moment.

She sighed. "Spill it, Skywalker."

Luke was still a bit red. "Sorry, Mara. It's just…you look gorgeous tonight." Mara wore a light green, form-fitting formal dress. Low cut in the front, it was open in the back nearly down to her waist. On most redheaded women, the dress would have clashed horribly with her hair color, but the gown suited Mara perfectly.

Mara gave Luke an impatient look, her eyebrows arched slightly.

Luke coughed lightly, then stammered out, "I mean, you always look gorgeous, of course, but…"

Mara cut him off with a smirk. "Better, Skywalker. Now, you dragged me out here. Wipe away your drool and let's dance."

They danced in silence for a few minutes, finishing out the Minuet, and Mara found herself annoyed at Luke's dancing ability. He was much better than she expected him to be, given his Tatooine upbringing, and that fact cut a little bit into her sense of superiority.

The band immediately transitioned into a Alderaanian waltz, and Luke made the switch between dance styles as smoothly as a professional ballroom dancer. After a few moments, Mara couldn't help but comment.

"Ok, Skywalker, where did you learn to dance? I know it wasn't on Tatooine."

Luke looked at her with a straight face, and delivered his answer deadpan. "Didn't I tell you? It was part of my Jedi training. With Master Yoda."

Mara's immediate burst of laughter caused a number of heads in the general vicinity to turn their way, and she found herself flush with embarrassment. With no free hand at that moment, she had no choice but to bury her face in Luke's shoulder to try to stifle her laughter. She had never met Yoda, of course, but had seen sketches of the Jedi Master enough times that the idea of Luke dancing with the little green alien was sufficient to bring ridiculous images to mind.

She was finally able to control herself, and had to free a hand for a moment to wipe a few tears from her eyes. "Sorry, Luke. The image of you waltzing around a swamp with Yoda was just too much. Seriously, though, you're better at this than I expected. Where did you learn?"

Luke smiled at her. The joke had had its intended effect, and Mara seemed less uncomfortable than she had a few minutes prior. "Actually, Leia made me learn after Endor. I think she figured that formal dancing was a skill I'd need as a leader in the New Republic. Winter handled most of my training." Winter was Leia's long-time friend, confidant, and assistant.

Mara caught a flash of something from Luke. "_Most_ of your training?"

It was Luke's turn to flush with embarrassment. "Well, she had to leave on an assignment before I was fully trained." He looked away, and added quietly, "Threepio finished out the lessons."

Mara was fortunate that the waltz ended right as Luke said this, freeing up her hands just in time to allow her to clamp them hard over her mouth. The image of Luke dancing with the protocol droid was only slightly less ridiculous than the image of Luke and Yoda, but Mara managed to keep from laughing out loud this time.

The band quickly started up the next dance, a polonaise from Corellia, and Luke began to pull Mara back to him. A strong flash of emotion from the woman stopped him, however.

"Mara, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." This particular dance was rather intimate in nature.

Mara reacted sharply. "_Blast it_, Skywalker, stay out of my mind."

Luke looked chagrined, his voice apologetic, and more than a little sad. "Sorry. Never mind. I'll let you get back to Karrde. Thanks for the dance." He began to turn to leave.

Mara let out a sigh, but her voice softened considerably. "Luke, wait. It's ok. Just don't get any funny ideas."

Luke nodded somberly, and reached out to pull her closer. Quietly, they continued to dance.

* * *

Karrde and Han had been making small talk, mostly trading jokes and gossip mixed with criticisms of various New Republic politicians. Finally Karrde shook his head.

"You know, Solo, the wine selection at this party is terrible. Any way we can get something better?"

Han grinned at him. "Maybe. Let me check." Karrde expected him to call over a server droid, but Han surprised him by pulling out a comlink instead. "Threepio. I need you to break into my special stash and bring a bottle and a couple of glasses down to the ballroom… I don't know, put it in a diplomatic pouch… Threepio, I don't care that it's against your programming to smuggle booze… Fine, get one of the Noghri to do it. We're in balcony 14."

Han shut off his comlink and found Karrde staring at him with a look of amusement. Han shook his head. "Kriffing protocol droids."

Karrde laughed. "What is this special stash?" Han just smiled at him.

A few short minutes later, a server droid dropped a diplomatic pouch on the table in front of them. Han waved at Karrde to open the pouch, and the smuggler whistled as he pulled out the bottle.

"Whyren's Reserve. A fine vintage, too. I'm impressed, Solo. Are you sure you want to waste this on me?" Whyren's Reserve was a well-known Corellian whiskey, and difficult to get outside of its home planet.

Han nodded. "I got a whole case a few months back. Haven't had the occasion to break into a bottle yet. Now seems as good a time as any."

Karrde raised an eyebrow at the other man. "I gather Mirax is considered respectable enough now that someone like you can risk doing business with her?"

Han gaped at the smuggler. "How did you know where this came from?"

Karrde gave Han a superior smile. "Isn't it obvious? She's married to Corran Horn, and as I recall, you and Corran know each other reasonably well. Besides, you didn't get it from anyone in my organization, or I would have known about it. That leaves Mirax as one of the few possible sources, and by far the most likely."

"You're far too well-informed, Karrde." Mirax Terrik Horn was a smuggler who had gone mostly straight after marrying Corran Horn, a fighter pilot in the New Republic's celebrated Rogue Squadron. She still had sources for black market goods, however, and Han occasionally took advantage of this to acquire items from his home world of Corellia.

The two men shared their drinks in silence for a few moments, while Karrde looked out over the dance floor. Finally his eyes rested on Luke and Mara, and he laughed quietly.

"Those two look pretty good together, don't they, Solo?"

Han blinked, then let out a quiet sigh. "Actually, I've thought that for years. Never really found the right opportunity to bring up the topic with Luke. Have you mentioned it to Mara?"

Karrde laughed again. "And risk taking a blaster bolt straight between my eyes? I know better than that. Anyway, I don't need to talk to her about it. I have a pretty good idea that there are feelings there, even if she doesn't realize it yet herself. What about Luke?"

Han shook his head. "I don't know, but I do know that seeing Mara briefly has brought him out of a funk on more than one occasion. It doesn't really matter, does it? He'd have to pry her away from Lando, and Luke isn't one to do something like that to a friend."

Karrde frowned. "What makes you think she's with Lando, or has any interest in him at all?"

Han gave him an exasperated look. "I don't _think_, I _know_. I put through a holocomm call to Lando a while back, and got Mara on the other end wearing nothing but one of his shirts. There isn't much room for misinterpretation there."

Karrde laughed. "She told me about that. There is room for misinterpretation, actually. I can assure you that she has no interest in Lando romantically, and that what you saw was purely business."

Han's voice betrayed some degree of skepticism. "Business, huh? Care to give me a clue about what _that_ kind of business entails?"

Karrde laughed again. "Care to pay for that information, Solo? Fifty thousand buys you the story."

Han coughed. "Never mind. I don't need to know that badly."

* * *

The last dance was a two-step from Borleias, and the dancers clapped as the band packed up their instruments. Mara suddenly realized that she had been dancing with Luke for almost ninety minutes. _It didn't seem like nearly that long_. She also suddenly realized that her choice of footwear for the evening wasn't exactly suited to an hour and a half of dancing.

"Ok, Skywalker, this has been more fun than I'd usually care to admit, but my feet are _killing_ me. Can we go sit down somewhere?"

Luke winced. "Sorry, Mara, I didn't think about that. There's an empty table over in the corner. Do you want to get a drink? Otherwise I can take you back to Talon. You did come here with him, after all, and I've monopolized you for most of the night."

Mara looked up toward the balcony, realizing that she hadn't thought about Karrde once since they started dancing. Finally she shrugged. "Like he said, he's here on business. I have time for a drink or two. Lead the way, so I can get these blasted shoes off."

Luke smiled, and held out his arm for her. Mara took it, and he ushered her to the last small table left open after the dancing ended. Both sat, and Luke chuckled as Mara kicked off her heels and let out a long sigh of relief.

Luke broke the ice. "So what kind of business does Karrde have here with Han tonight, anyway? It seems like a lot of trouble to go through to get all dressed up for this party."

Mara frowned slightly. "I guess I can tell you. We really don't have any actual business here. Karrde got the invitation from your sister, and decided the opportunity to come here and rub our role in the Almanian situation in Fey'lya's furry face was too good to pass up. So, here we are. I think Karrde decided that drinking with Han in the balcony and letting me dance with you all night was as good a way as any to get the job done."

Mara's gaze, and tone of voice, suddenly hardened. "By the way, if I show up on the galactic holos tomorrow as 'Luke Skywalker's date at the Palace Ball', I _will_ have to personally kill you."

Luke laughed. "Don't worry, I'm sure security managed to keep the media shills out of the party. The only holographers I saw wandering around were the official senate staffers that record these types of events for posterity."

Mara's tone was ominous. "I hope you're right. For your sake."

Her threats were cut off by the arrival of a waiter droid, who brought Luke and Mara two glasses of white wine. _Generic white wine_, _poor quality, from Kuat, probably_, Mara thought as she took a sip, unimpressed. She looked over to Luke.

"I don't remember ordering this."

The Jedi Master laughed. "I did. You didn't notice."

Mara found herself annoyed again. "You know, Skywalker, you've gotten far too smooth in the last few years. One has to wonder who taught you all these tricks. Formal dancing, ordering drinks without me noticing, I never would have guessed you could pull all of that off."

She shook her head at him, then changed the subject. "I'm surprised you're here stag, Skywalker. I'm sure you could have found dozens of volunteers to escort you to a party like this, even on short notice. Famous Jedi Master, and all that."

Luke shook his head, and Mara noted that most of the levity was gone from his voice in his response. _Oops_.

"Maybe you're right, Mara. I didn't really plan on staying long tonight. Leia insisted I be here, so I was just going to make a quick appearance and leave early. Until you showed up, anyway. Besides, I've not had much interest in romance the past few months."

Mara gave him a look that was almost sympathetic, but also laced with some of her more traditional annoyance. "Don't tell me you're hung up on Callista again. I thought you worked through that years ago."

Luke looked at her with some obvious surprise. "I guess you didn't hear. I met a woman, last year, during the Yevethan crisis. It didn't turn out well."

Mara frowned. She had been off on various missions for the Smuggler's Alliance during that particular time and had been somewhat out of the loop. She asked her next question quietly. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Luke shook his head sadly. "Not really. The short of it is, she told me that she might know where to find my mother, and took me on a wild bantha chase around the galaxy for the better part of a year. It turned out in the end that she was lying to me, and didn't know anything at all about my mother. She just wanted me to help her find her people. Not the best way to start a relationship, and whatever we did have collapsed in on itself after the Yevethan crisis was over. Not a lot of people know about it, but I'm still surprised you didn't hear."

Mara got the sense that, whatever Luke was going through, he didn't really want her sympathy, nor did he want to talk about this woman further. She let it drop. "I've been busy."

Luke nodded. "Not too busy to come rescue me. _Again_. Thank you, by the way. I think I owe you for quite a few rescues now."

Mara snorted. "Be sure that I'll collect on those favors someday, Skywalker. And for future reference, next time you decide to go face down a Dark Jedi, make sure to consult me first. I'm getting tired of having to save your butt from these things."

Luke laughed, despite the serious nature of the topic. "Deal. And I'm sure you will collect on those debts someday, or Karrde will."

Mara narrowed her eyes at him, and dryly responded. "Any favors you want to pay Karrde are between you and him, Skywalker. You repay your debts to me, to me. I'll let you know when the score is even again. In the unlikely event you ever manage to even it."

Luke leaned back in his chair and smiled, silent for a long moment. Finally he spoke again. "You know, Jade, it is always good to see you. Too many people act like I'm some sort of demigod. You don't seem to have that problem."

Mara gave him an amused look. "It is _occasionally _good to see you too, Skywalker. When I'm not getting shot at, or accosted by Dark Jedi. Which is most of the time when our paths cross."

Luke winked at her. "Yes, I recall you telling me something like that once before."

Mara shook her head in mock exasperation. "I guess I did, _once_." She looked down at her empty glass. "This stuff is terrible, but I could really use another drink."

Before she completely got the words out, the server droid plunked two more glasses of wine down on their table. She looked up wide-eyed to see Luke grinning at her.

"_Blast it_, Skywalker…"

* * *

Hours later the party was winding down. Han and Karrde were still seated in balcony 14, and had between them polished off nearly the entire bottle of whiskey. Both men held their liquor well, but each was starting to feel the effects of the alcohol. As such, the conversation flowed somewhat more freely.

As promised, Karrde had a few small items of actual business to discuss with Han, and the conversation drifted in that direction for a few hours. Both made occasional glances to the ballroom floor, where Mara and Luke were still clearly enmeshed in a conversation. The two men eventually circled back around to the topic of their friends.

"So, Karrde, I meant to ask you. You mentioned earlier that you were pretty sure that Mara has feelings for Luke. Care to share that story with me?"

The smuggler paused for a moment, then took a deep breath. "Solo, you know if this ever gets back to her that they'll find me dead within hours." He sighed. "Call it payback for the whiskey. I'll tell you, but _keep it to yourself_. Nothing about this to Skywalker, to your wife, to anyone. Agreed?" Han nodded, suddenly interested.

"Mara had us transfer a box of her stuff from the _Lady Luck_ to our base when she and Lando stopped by during one of their… _missions_. I didn't really intend to look through it, but the box broke while we were moving it and we had to pack everything back up. It was mostly regular stuff, clothes, trinkets that Lando had bought her from various planets, that sort of thing. In among it was one holo. I couldn't help but look at it. It was of her and Luke, back from that time on Coruscant after the Thrawn situation ended. It didn't really seem particularly special to me, but for whatever reason it stood out as _odd_."

Han wasn't following. "So she had a holo of a friend. I have holos with me and Luke too…"

Karrde shook his head. "That's just it. Mara doesn't have holos. Of anyone. Not of herself, not of other people, not of places she's been, not of anything. Her quarters are barely decorated, and you could fit all of her possessions in the smallest smuggling compartment on the _Falcon_ with room to spare. I think she keeps it that way so she can pack up and disappear in an hour if she has to. I mean, I found all of those trinkets Calrissian gave her in a refuse container later on. For her to keep something like that holo means that it's particularly significant to her, especially since she took it with her on her trips with Lando."

Han was thoughtful for a minute. "You've never tried to talk to her about it?"

Karrde shook his head again. "We're not that close. I think I'm the closest thing she has to a best friend, or maybe a father figure, in the galaxy, and even _I_ barely know anything about her."

"So, what, you want to try to get them together? I'm for it, but Leia might disagree." Mara did not historically get along particularly well with Han's wife.

Karrde chuckled. "I'm sure Mara would flip if we tried something like that. They need to come to it on their own. It would probably mean I'd lose the best employee I've ever had, but if Mara could finally find someone…"

Han smiled. "Maybe it's the booze talking, but you're a pretty good guy, Karrde."

Karrde responded dryly. "I'm not sure how much that means, coming from you Solo, but I'll take the compliment as it was intended."

Looking down, Han noticed Mara and Luke standing up from their table, among the last dozen or so to leave the party. "Well Karrde, it looks like they might be headed this way. We'd better pipe down on the scheming for the moment, or we'll end up with missing limbs if we're lucky." Karrde laughed at that.

Not two minutes later, Luke and Mara entered the balcony arm-in-arm, with Luke carrying Mara's shoes in his free right hand.

Karrde just laughed. Han couldn't help but commenting. "Jade, you look a little worse for the wear. Did Luke step on your feet or something?"

Mara shot him a poisonous look, and didn't respond to his question. Instead, she turned to her employer. "Karrde, can we get going? It's past my bedtime."

Karrde nodded. "In a minute, Mara. Did you two have a good time tonight?"

Luke began to speak, but Mara cut him off with a snort. "It was fine."

Luke began to object to her characterization of the evening, but stopped. He had caught just a hint of emotion from Mara, breaking through her usually strong mental barrier. He felt a vague impression of contentment, and it disappeared back behind her mental block just as quickly as it appeared.

Luke decided to let Mara's statement stand. "Well, _I _had fun, anyway. Talon, I'm sorry to have stolen your date for the entire evening."

Karrde waved off the apology as he took Mara's shoes from Luke. "No problem, Skywalker. Like I said, I was here on business. You ever need a date to one of these things again, I'll make sure she's available. Ok, Mara, I'm ready. Let's get going."

Mara glared at her employer, but moved to follow him nevertheless. As she broke free from Luke, her hand lingered momentarily on his arm, and Luke felt her squeeze slightly. He got another hint of warmth from her emotions through the Force, the feeling again fading as quickly as it appeared. She didn't look back as she followed Karrde from the balcony, saying only "see you around, Solo" to Han as she passed by.

Han and Luke watched them leave, then Luke turned to his brother-in-law. "Well, it's late, Han. I'd better be getting back. See you tomorrow?"

Han gave Luke a smirk, a common-enough sight for the Jedi, and Luke got a flash through the Force of some indiscernible thought from Han.

"Sure kid, see you tomorrow. Goodnight."

With that, Luke Skywalker left for his quarters.

* * *

Neither Karrde nor Mara had spoken the entire way back to the docking bay. Arriving at the _Wild Karrde_, the older man turned to his second-in-command to say goodnight, but stopped as he noticed the tiny smile on the face of a woman who was clearly light-years away in her head at the moment.

Unfortunately, Mara noticed his look, and scowled at him. "Do you need my help with pre-flight? I want to go ice my feet before they fall off."

Karrde sighed and shook his head. "No, I think the rest of the crew can handle it. I'm going to go sleep off that half bottle of whiskey. See you in the morning."

Mara turned to walk away, but Karrde had one more thing to say. "Hey, Mara, you and Luke…"

Mara didn't even turn around as she cut him off. "_Goodnight_, Karrde."


	5. Jade Evolution

_**JADE EVOLUTION**_

**18 ABY** - Immediatly after _Showdown at Centerpoint._

Luke is upset after the death of Gaeriel. Mara tries to cheer him up.

* * *

She found Luke Skywalker, finally, sitting in the cargo bay of the _Millennium Falcon_. Mara Jade's part in the Corellian Insurrection was at an end, and she was yearning to leave. She had played her role in helping end the crisis, and was getting tired of the gratitude that everyone wanted to dump on her.

First, though, she wanted to say goodbye to Luke. Again, she had never gotten the chance to actually say _hello_, but that seemed to be their pattern. Unfortunately, no one had been able to tell her where he was. This was not usually a problem. Her bond in the Force with Luke had always been strong, even across light-years. This had been true even before their first official meeting, and it was still true today. She could usually sense his presence when he was close, and could certainly sense his emotions when they were strong, as they usually were and surely were currently. Now, though, standing two meters from him, she could sense nothing at all.

She didn't need the Force to see that he was hurting. The man sitting on the floor of the cargo bay was red-eyed, clearly having cried recently, though no tears were visible. Instead, he sat slumped, staring intently at a holo of a woman Mara had never seen before, though she knew precisely who it was.

Mara sat down quietly beside Luke, and he looked up in some surprise, apparently having completely missed her entrance. _So, he shut himself off from the Force entirely, for the moment._ She hoped he was hiding from Leia, and not from her, but it was a faint hope at best. He seemed to relax slightly when he saw her, however, so maybe she had been correct after all.

She tried to give him a comforting smile, but that particular expression was a hard one for her to pull off, and she was at best semi-successful. Luke didn't speak, simply looking back down at the holo, and she finally could take no more silence.

"I assume that's Gaeriel." It was more of a statement than a question, but Luke nodded anyway. Yes, it was the woman Mara had heard described as 'Luke's first true love'. The woman who had died, not hours earlier, on the bridge of a starship in a battle into which Luke had pulled her. The woman who left an orphaned daughter behind, a daughter Luke had sworn to return to with her unharmed mother.

Mara wasn't sure quite what to say. She tried her best to be comforting. "She's beautiful."

Luke looked up at her with a sad smile. His voice was hoarse, barely a whisper. "She was beautiful. You would have liked her, I think. You two are a lot alike. Intelligent, confident, capable, stubborn." He paused, then sighed softly, "and beautiful."

Mara barely noticed the compliment. She instead found herself looking at the picture of Gaeriel. A sense of unease crept over her, and she suddenly found herself feeling vaguely negative thoughts about the woman in the picture. Something in the back of her mind told her that she would _not_ have liked Gaeriel, although she was not able to explain why. Intellectually she might admit that these were the same feelings she had felt for Callista, but something deep inside in her refused to acknowledge the obvious connection.

She found him staring again at the holo, and knew she had to do something. Luke had nearly self-destructed in such situations before. _I helped him through Callista, at least a little. Maybe I can do the same for him with Gaeriel_. She was about the least-equipped person in the galaxy to counsel a friend through a crisis of grief, but Luke had always responded to her at times like this. Somehow.

"I'm sorry for what happened, Luke, but it wasn't your fault."

He looked up at her, and there was some anger in his eyes. "No? I brought her here. I'm the one who asked her to come, even though Bakura has no interest at all in the Corellian system. If it hadn't been me, she wouldn't have come. And she wouldn't be dead. How is that not my fault?"

Mara sighed. _This is going to be much more difficult than Callista_. "That may all be true, Luke. But the Bakurans came because of the threat posed to the entire galaxy by Centerpoint. She gave her life to stop that threat. Not for you, not for your family, not for any individual here. For _everyone_ in the galaxy."

He didn't seem to want to agree, and his words were bitter. "That seems to happen a lot around me. My friends, people I love, all of them try to be heroes, and they mostly end up hurt, or dead. What is it about me that inspires that sort of sacrifice?"

Mara frowned slightly. "You're the most well-known and beloved hero this galaxy has, Luke, at least for most beings out there. Anyone who has ever watched any of those ridiculous holodramas about your life wants to be you. You have abilities they don't have, though, and hero worship inspires some beings to take extreme risks to emulate those they worship. That gets them killed sometimes, but that's not your fault. It shouldn't be on your shoulders to bear that burden."

Luke sighed softly. "What do I do to keep that from happening, Mara? I don't want people trying to be like me, and getting killed."

Mara shook her head. "I don't know. You'd have to ask someone else, Luke. Some other hero who has gone through that, maybe. I don't have the experience to answer your question."

She was surprised to sense some of Luke's feelings in the Force. He was opening up, though just a little. His thoughts were still tinged with deep grief.

He startled her a bit with his question. "You don't think you're a hero?"

She snorted. "No."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "I seem to recall you coming to my rescue a number of times. Risking your life, in fact, to save mine. That makes you a hero, at least to _me_."

She objected immediately to his classification, in her usual style. "Purely self-interest, Skywalker."

He lightened up a little more. "Oh, and what interest would Mara Jade have in keeping me alive all these years?"

She chuckled softly, hoping not to upset him with her laughter. "Speculation. Someday I'll have to call in all those favors."

That actually got him to laugh, just a bit. She could tell by his gaze that he didn't quite believe her explanation, but thankfully he didn't press the issue. Instead, he sobered up a bit, and said, "By the way, I didn't get the chance to thank you for rescuing my sister. It seems you're in the wrong line of work."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Occasionally having to rescue you and your sister from certain death doesn't pay nearly as well as smuggling, Skywalker. When it does, I'll consider a career change."

He laughed a little harder at that, and she could see he was starting to feel better, if only a bit. He smiled warmly at her. "Thanks again, though. And not just for rescuing her. For stopping by here today, too. You seem to have a knack for bringing me out of my misery."

Her earlier words had helped tremendously. Her next ones could not have hurt more. "Thankfully, dragging you out of your misery isn't my job. If I had to do this every time you lost someone, I'd never get anything else done."

Time stopped for Mara as horror and grief flashed across Luke's face. She immediately felt sick. _Of all the terrible things you've said to him in your life, Mara, that might have been the worst_.

She felt tears beginning to well up in her own eyes. She tried her best to stammer out an apology. "Oh, Gods, Luke, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it like that…"

Totally out of character, she threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. Her horror at her own insensitivity boiled inside her, threatening to overwhelm her completely. She cried softly, trying to hide her tears from Luke, who certainly did not need or deserve to have her own weakness dumped on him in his moment of grief.

As she felt Luke's arm wrap around her shoulders, she suddenly sensed a deep wellspring of the Force. She nearly gasped as she felt the power of Luke's feelings. His intense grief, and the hurt from her comment, were still there, but those emotions were being pushed away by a feeling of comfort that washed over her like a flowing river, threatening to drown her own feelings in its wake. The strength of his will was undeniable, but he didn't push into her mind. Instead, the warmth of his support merged with her own despair and regret, and suddenly the feelings were a violent whirlpool of motion, with Luke's empathy quickly overpowering her grief.

Mara had known Luke for nine years, and had seen displays of his power in the Force that had awed her more times than she could remember. Never before, though, had she felt anything approaching the significance of that action. She did not feel violated, as she might have expected, because he had not entered her mind at all. Instead, he had simply washed away her remorse with the power of his compassion. He had batted aside his own grief, his own regrets, and undoubtedly his own anger to do so, and she marveled at his strength. It was an act of sheer will in the Force that she knew she couldn't match. She very much doubted she would ever be able to do so.

She didn't let go of Luke for a long time. Finally a sense of unease and embarrassment crept into her mind, as she started to revert back to her usual discomfort with physical contact. She pulled away slightly, and felt Luke's arm release her, as he clearly sensed her urge to withdraw.

Even though she should not have been, she was astonished to find a look of serenity on Luke's face. Gone was any trace of his grief over Gaeriel's death, although that emotion was still there, but diminished. In its place she sensed concern for her, the same feeling of protectiveness that usually drove her mad. She was angered this time as well, but only at herself.

She tried again to apologize. "I'm so sorry, Luke. What I said was insensitive and mean-spirited."

He smiled sadly at her. "Insensitive, maybe. But I don't think it was mean-spirited, Mara. You didn't come here to hurt me, and I can't fault you for making an observation which is clearly true. Whether by luck or the Force, I've lost a number of people who were important to me, in one way or another. It's a heavy burden to bear. Having friends and loved ones to share the burden helps, and you've helped me more than most."

His kind words left her nearly speechless. She didn't know what to say, and although "I don't know what to say, Luke" wasn't the most intelligent response she had ever made, it was the only response she could make.

His smiled brightened a bit, and his tone was playful. "Mara Jade, speechless? Score one under the 'when Hutts fly' column."

She scowled at him, his playful teasing bringing her usual sarcasm bubbling back to the surface. She belatedly realized that he had intended this, and that he was bringing their relationship back into balance. Again, she had helped heal him after the loss of a loved one, if only a little. He might still grieve, but he would no longer mope.

She wasn't quite sure how it had happened. By all rights, he should have been furious with her, so horrible her remarks had been. Instead, her anger with herself at her own insensitivity had brought out his compassion and concern for her wellbeing. It was a startling reminder of just how close they had once been, years ago.

The last few years had put a distance between her and Luke that had mostly widened instead of healed. Now it seemed to Mara that it might finally be closing again. Something in Luke was changing, slowly but surely, although she was unable to pinpoint the change. She couldn't quite admit to herself that she might too be changing, bit by bit.

All this ran through her mind in the short instant between Luke's 'when Hutts fly' comment and her snapped response. "Don't count on ever seeing that again, Skywalker."

Luke laughed, then suddenly became serious. "I'm not sure I should bring this up, Mara, but did you hear about Lando?"

Mara snorted. "You mean his ridiculous search for a rich woman to trick into marrying him? Yes, I heard, and I heard he managed to con you into helping him."

Luke coughed awkwardly. He wasn't sure how she would take the news. "Right. Mara, as it turns out, he found someone. Her name is Tendra Risant, from Sacorria. Actually, that's why we were in the Corellian System in the first place."

He didn't expect her laughter. "Good. I'm happy for Calrissian. I'm even more happy for _me_, if it means he will stop propositioning me every time our paths cross."

She noted with a bit of amusement the puzzled look on Luke's face. She knew what people assumed about her relationship with Lando. There was nothing there but business, but Luke had never really asked. _Just ask already, Skywalker, and I'll tell you_.

He didn't ask, either too polite or too afraid to pry into her personal life. _Not that I blame him particularly, given how I've treated the subject in the past. But this is getting ridiculous_. She couldn't quite bring herself to volunteer the information, though, and the moment passed awkwardly. Finally she sighed internally and stood up.

"Feeling better, Skywalker?"

He favored her with a small smile. "Believe it or not, yes. Thanks to you. _Again_." Mara wasn't quite able to convince herself that she had really helped.

She huffed at him, then reached down to grab his arm and yanked him to his feet. "Good. The Solo kids have been looking for you for hours. I think it's time you got off your rear and went to spend some time with your family." With that, she turned him in the general direction of the boarding ramp and gave him a rough shove in the back. "Get going."

* * *

It was not long before Mara was back on the _Jade's Fire_, having managed to slip away while Luke was talking to his family. Instead of the cockpit, she found herself in her private quarters as her droid Slips piloted the ship out of the system. Her detour through the events of the Corellian Insurrection had put her shockingly behind schedule, but instead of working, she found herself staring at a holo, much as she had found Luke doing barely more than an hour earlier.

She sighed as she looked at the picture of her and Luke, smiling together on Coruscant after the end of the Thrawn campaign. She remembered when Luke had given her the holo, right before she left Yavin 4 and abandoned her commitment to train as a Jedi. She had been unwilling to tell him that she'd return to finish her training someday, but had privately admitted to herself that she would return, when the Luke she had known that day on Coruscant returned.

The years after the Thrawn campaign had changed Luke, somehow, and she realized after leaving Yavin 4 that she no longer knew her friend. She and Luke had seen each other only a few times since, and each time it was awkward. They were growing apart, but each reunion brought them back a little closer together. She had nearly given up hope of ever being close with Luke again many times, but she had never quite abandoned that hope entirely.

Now, she found herself suddenly more optimistic about the future, if only a little bit. They still had things to work out, certainly, and she still disagreed with many of the choices Luke seemed to always be making. But their circumstances were changing, slowly, and Mara found herself finally convinced that she would one day complete her Jedi training. The time wasn't yet right to return to Yavin 4, but she hoped that one day soon it would be.

Sighing again, she turned the holo off and put it away. _Ok, Jade, you have a lot to do. Get to work_.


	6. Jade Revelation

_**JADE REVELATION**_

**19 ABY **- Bracketing the final chapter of _Vision of the Future._

Luke and Mara are getting married. First, they have to tell everyone.

* * *

The journey back to Coruscant from Nirauan had taken only a few days, with a brief stop at a New Republic outpost on the edge of the Unknown Regions for a quick shower and a meal. After departing the outpost for the galactic capitol, Luke and Mara had finally had time to talk about the future. _Their future_.

It had taken some convincing for Coruscant traffic control to let their clawcraft through the shields, but being Jedi Master Luke Skywalker opened doors across the galaxy. They had finally landed together on the planet, debarking from their fighter after the two day journey. Luke had reached out to grasp Mara's hand, only to have her pull away. He had briefly feared that she had returned to her old habits, as Mara had always been uncomfortable with physical contact, especially with him. She must have sensed his anxiety, though, and a brief wave of reassurance washed over him through the Force. _Clearly_, Luke thought, _she just doesn't want anyone noticing the change in our relationship yet_.

A quick comm call to Leia gave Luke a little information about the events at Yaga Minor, and the pending treaty between the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant. Luke was also told that no intact copy of the Caamas document had been discovered, although no one but Mara and Artoo yet knew that there had been one on Nirauan. Luke quickly arranged to meet with Leia and Han in their quarters in the Palace, and was told that Karrde would be there as well. _Good_, Luke thought. _He's on Coruscant too, so Mara and I can tell everyone at one time and can be there for each other for support._

On the walk to the Solo quarters, Mara and Luke agreed not to discuss their situation with anyone for at least a few days. The Caamas situation was still volatile, and turning over the document to Leia would probably exacerbate the matter for the immediate future. Luke did not doubt that it would help long-term, but the short-term effects were likely to approximate a supernova. Leia would need some time to call together advisers, and Luke and Mara did not want to divide Leia's attention.

Luke and Mara entered the Solo quarters together, but with a good meter between them once they passed through the door. Luke reflected wryly to himself that this was as far apart physically as they had been at pretty much any point since leaving the New Republic outpost. With a small sigh, he buried his thoughts of Mara deep behind his mental barriers, hoping to keep Leia from picking up on any of it. A brief glance at Mara told him that she was likely doing the same.

Leia came up to Luke for a hug. "Luke, I'm so glad you're back. So much has happened that we need to talk about." Turning to Mara, Leia smiled politely. "Mara, I'm glad to see you're ok." Mara just nodded.

Luke took a deep breath. "Leia, there's something we need to tell you. While Mara and I were on Nirauan…" Luke could feel a flash of apprehension from Mara through the Force, but she quashed the feeling admirably quickly, and he continued. "Here."

Luke pulled a datapad from a pocket in his robe, and saw Mara relax almost imperceptibly. Leia frowned slightly. "What is this?"

Mara surprised everyone with her somewhat snippy reply. "Just read it."

Leia's eyes went wide as she scrolled through the document. Finally she came to the end, and looked up at her brother. "Luke, where did you… how did you…?" She couldn't quite get the words out.

Luke smiled at her. "We found it on Nirauan. Or, rather, Artoo did. Never mind the circumstances. What is important is that Mara and I are quite certain that it is genuine. It could not have been tampered with, and the place we found it had not been accessed by anyone in at least ten years."

They had all-but-forgotten the other people in the room. Karrde had just stood by quietly, watching the proceedings, and Han asked the inevitable question. "Leia, what's all the fuss? What is it?"

Leia looked at her husband. "It's a copy of the Caamas document. Complete, and apparently unaltered." Luke smiled quietly as he watched the reactions of each man to the news. Both reactions were the same. A quick blink, followed by wide eyes and an open mouth, followed even more quickly by a return to an impassive look.

Leia looked back at Luke. "Luke, I need you to tell me _everything_. We need to verify the contents of this document immediately. At least some of the Bothans listed here are still alive."

Luke nodded. "I'm afraid I can't give you any details, Leia. At least not right away."

Leia realized he wouldn't be swayed from his decision and acceded, despite her desire to learn more about the document. "I'm sorry to run out on you all, but I need to go meet with some people about this. Luke, can I take this with me? Do you have a backup?"

Luke nodded, and Leia left immediately, comlink already in hand. No one spoke for a long moment, with Han and Karrde clearly still processing recent events. Finally, Karrde was the first one to speak. "Mara, if you're not too exhausted, we have a bit of business to catch up on. I know it's getting late, but it's quite urgent. Can you spare an hour before retiring for the night?"

Mara nodded at him. Han suddenly spoke up. "Karrde, do you have a place for Mara to stay tonight? We can have a guest room put together here if we need to."

Luke caught a flash of emotion from Mara, and clearly sensed her longing to spend the night with him. She had obviously let her guard down somewhat after Leia left, and Luke shot her a warning glance as surreptitiously as he could.

Karrde nodded. "We rented an extra room in one of the local places next to the Palace. We've been storing some stuff in there, but we can get it cleaned up for her quickly. Mara, ready to go?"

Mara stifled her sigh of regret. "Sure, Karrde. We'll check back in tomorrow?" Karrde nodded, and Mara continued. "Ok. See you tomorrow, Solo. You too, Skywalker." Luke caught her glance as she said this, and the slight shake of her head. _Ok, we don't say anything to anyone tonight._

After they had left, Han looked at Luke. "Say, kid, feel like a drink? I'm sure you have some stories to tell, and I need to tell you all about my adventure with Lando on Bastion."

Luke blinked at that bit of information, as Bastion was the supposedly-secret seat of the Imperial capital. "Ok, Han, I'll stay for a quick drink. I need some sleep, but we can talk some more in the next few days before we leave for the peace accords."

* * *

Luke was just drifting to sleep two hours later when he suddenly felt a twinge in the Force. The twinge brought him fully awake, but the light tapping sound from the front door of his quarters moments later was what propelled him out of his bed. He got no sense through the Force of the person on the other side of the door, and was somewhat surprised when Mara shoved straight past him upon his opening it.

He stood there somewhat stunned for a moment, until Mara snarled quietly at him. "_Blast it_, Skywalker. Shut the door before someone sees me."

Luke blushed a bit as he quickly complied with her order. He turned back to his fiancée. "You're getting very good at masking your presence with the Force.

Mara shook her head. "I couldn't be sure who was around. And," she said, with a slightly mischievous grin, "I wanted to surprise you."

Luke arched his eyebrows at her. "Mission accomplished."

Mara snorted softly, then turned and walked straight into Luke's bedroom. Surprised again, he followed after her.

In his bedroom he found her rummaging through one of his drawers before she finally pulled out a white undershirt and blue pair of cotton shorts. He couldn't help but stare as she started stripping down in front of him, and blushed fiercely as she looked up to glare at him.

"Uh, Mara, what are you doing?"

She rolled her eyes, and snapped back a sarcastic response. "I've been sleeping in the same thing for weeks. I thought I'd try out something different, if that's ok with you."

Luke belatedly realized she was still wearing the same clothes she had worn on Nirauan. "I forgot that you lost most of your wardrobe with the _Fire_." Luke felt a twinge of sadness from Mara, and winced. He hadn't meant to remind her of the pain of losing her ship.

"Sorry, Mara. I'll go out to the other room and let you get changed." He turned to leave, but a sharp command from Mara stopped him.

"_Hold it_, farmboy." He turned to look back, and saw her smile impishly at him. "We _are _engaged now. You've won the right to see me naked, and you might as well start getting used to it." She quickly added, "Don't get any ideas. I'm far too tired for anything tonight, so you'll have to wait a while longer on that front."

Luke could only manage a slightly-embarrassed nod, and she chuckled at his discomfort as she stripped the rest of her clothes off. She was soon wearing his undergarments, and Luke nodded approvingly as he looked her over. "Those look better on you than they do on me."

Mara rolled her eyes, but her response was playful. "Of course they do."

The moment passed, and he again found himself slightly concerned. "Mara, are you sure it's a good idea for you to stay here tonight?"

Mara looked annoyed at the question, though her reply was forthright. "No, but I'll leave before dawn. Now, get over here. It's cold in this room."

With that, Mara pulled him down next to her on the bed and burrowed into his arms. Minutes later, both were sound asleep.

* * *

Luke was just waking up when he felt a twinge in the Force. This brought him fully awake in an instant, and he sensed Mara snap awake beside him.

There was some light coming in from outside the window. Mara groaned softly. "Oh, _no_. Luke, what _time_ is it?"

Luke stared over to the chrono on the wall, and felt his heart start racing. "0830. Blast, I was supposed to meet Han at 0800."

Mara's head dropped. "Karrde was going to wake _me_ up at 0800. Kriff." Luke was too caught up in anxiety to object to her profanity.

Luke heard his door buzz. _Oh no_. Stretching out with the Force, he sensed a familiar presence. "It's Han. He knows the code to the door, so I'd better go answer it before he just barges in here. Stay here."

"Right."

Luke hopped out of bed, and rushed into the next room to answer the door, taking the time to close his bedroom door in the process. Still in his underwear, which was pretty much identical to what Mara was wearing, he opened the door.

Han stood there looking at him. "Hey, kid, we were worried about you." He pushed past Luke into the common room, and Luke sighed as he shut the door.

"Sorry, Han, I overslept. I must have been more tired than I realized. Give me five minutes to get changed, and we can go."

Han shook his head. "No worries, Luke. Leia's been in meetings all night, and there's no end in sight yet, so we have some time."

Luke turned back towards his bedroom, but Han kept talking. "By the way, I just heard from Karrde that no one can find Mara. I assume she hasn't checked in with you? We're going to send some people out looking for her."

Luke turned back to Han, concentrating deeply on the Force in an attempt to control his desire to blush. He cautiously started to lie to his brother-in-law, but saw Han's eyes go wide and his mouth drop open before he could get any words out.

Luke couldn't help but look behind him, and saw Mara standing in his bedroom doorway, still wearing his clothes, her arms crossed over her chest and a scowl on her face.

Her voice gave away her exasperation. "Forget it, Solo. I'm here. Call off the search party."

Luke couldn't contain his blush any longer, and it got worse when Han started laughing loudly.

"Excuse me just a second," Han said, with a twinkle in his eye and something devious in his voice. He turned away from Luke and Mara for a moment. Quickly fishing out a comlink, he thumbed it on and said, "Karrde? Solo. Can you come to Luke's quarters please?" Not waiting for a response, he shut the comlink off and turned back to Luke and Mara.

Luke felt a sudden burst of rage from Mara, and quickly called his lightsaber to his hands with the Force. The weapon had been sitting on a table across the room.

He saw Han's eyes go wide, and the older man took two steps back with his hands in the air. "Whoa, kid, no reason to go homicidal on me."

Luke shook his head, as he gripped his lightsaber as tightly as possible with both hands. "I'm not. This is the only weapon in here, and I'm _trying_ to prevent Mara from using it to kill you on the spot."

He heard Mara swear softly behind him. "You're a lucky man, Solo." With that, she seemed to settle down some, and she walked across the room and sat down on the couch, crossing her legs. She let out a deep sigh of exasperation, clearly awaiting the inevitable.

Han sat down too, and Luke looked at Mara for a moment. "If you leave now, you might be able to avoid Karrde. I can try to convince him that Han's a liar."

Han gave him a hurt look, but suddenly laughed. "Believe me, you won't be able to convince him." Luke eyed him suspiciously, but Han only stared at him with a smug grin on his face.

Mara shook her head. "We might as well get this over with, Skywalker."

It took ten minutes before Luke's door finally buzzed again. Luke and Han stood while Mara simply sighed and remained seated. Luke started towards the door, but stopped when Han rushed to get there first. He opened it to admit the smuggler.

Karrde walked in the room and stopped short as he saw Mara sitting on the couch in Luke's clothes. His eyes remained surprisingly impassive as he glanced first at Mara, then at Luke, then back again. Luke and Mara both held their breaths as they waited for some kind of response.

Finally Karrde broke out into a huge smile. Unexpectedly, his first words were to Han. "About kriffing time." Han laughed before agreeing. "No kidding, right?"

It wasn't Karrde's profanity that caused shocked reactions from both Luke and Mara. Mara recovered first, but it wasn't much of a recovery. "_What?!_"

Karrde chuckled as he sat down in a chair, before looking over at Han. "How long have we been waiting for this to happen, Solo?"

Han shrugged. "Individually? About ten years. Together? It's been, what, almost two years since that Ball here at the Palace?"

Luke felt more anger welling up in Mara, and quickly sat down beside her, hoping to support her through what was likely to be a few more minutes of embarrassment for both of them.

Mara snapped at them. "So you've, what, been dreaming up some master plan to get us together for _two years_?"

Han shrank back, but Karrde laughed. "Our _master plan_ was basically to get you two in the same place at the same time as often as possible, and let the inevitable happen, which it finally has. That reminds me. Solo, you can transfer those funds to my account at any time."

Mara was angry again. "You two had a bet going?"

Luke was more amused. "How much did he take you for, Han?"

Han winced. "Ten thousand. He bet me that the two of you would start dating within the year a few weeks ago here on Coruscant while Luke was off trying to find you, Mara. Provided you both returned alive. Leia's going to kill me."

Luke looked down for a moment. _I guess it's time_. "Actually, Han, Talon, we're not really dating." He reached over to take Mara's hand. "We're kind of, um… engaged."

He flinched as Mara punched him in the arm, rather hard. She responded with mock outrage. "_Kind of_ engaged?" Her tone softened considerably, but her words were still forceful. "We're getting married. _Soon_. I'm not a patient person by nature."

Both Luke and Mara expected a strong reaction from the two men, but neither got quite the reaction they were expecting. Karrde grunted out "_dammit!_" while Han simply laughed victoriously. Luke shook his head and looked quizzically at the two men.

Han responded first. "Thank the stars for 'double-or-nothing'. I also bet Karrde ten thousand that you two would skip the dating phase and go straight for the big one, when you eventually got together." He looked sternly at all of them. "Leia _never_ finds out about these wagers."

Even Mara chuckled at that, and everyone settled down a bit. After a moment, Karrde spoke up. "No need for a formal resignation letter, Mara. You're off the hook. It's not easy to lose an employee like you, but I can't begin to tell you how happy I am for you two." He glanced over at Luke. "Actually, Skywalker, I'm a little concerned for you, but you're probably the only person in the galaxy with a prayer at hanging on to Mara over the long term, and at keeping your sanity and your life intact in the process."

Mara was about to get angry again, but was honest enough with herself to realize that Karrde was probably right. Luke was the only man she'd ever met who had always accepted her good and her bad, and who had always supported her and cared for her no matter what she did or said to him. _I don't know why I didn't realize this years ago._

So instead of snapping at Karrde, she thanked him. "I appreciate it, Talon. I half-expected to have to argue my case straight up to our wedding day to get you to let me leave."

Karrde smiled. "Like we said, Solo and I have both been expecting this day for a long time. I do hope you'll help with the transition over the next few months, as much as you can."

Luke and Mara both nodded, and Mara spoke. "Of course. You sound like you've already chosen my replacement."

Karrde shook his heads slightly. "I haven't, really. But I do have a pretty good idea who I'm going to ask…"

* * *

An hour later, Karrde and Solo had finally gone, and Mara felt the last of the stress and embarrassment fade away. The _Wild Karrde_ was scheduled to head out of the system that evening, and her boss agreed that she should stay behind on Coruscant with Luke. Karrde had promised to bring what little was left of her wardrobe with him to the treaty signing at Bastion in nine standard days, briefly saddening her with another reminder that her ship, and with it most of her possessions, was gone.

Han meanwhile had gone off to raid Leia's wardrobe for a few outfits that Mara could wear until she got a chance to purchase some new clothes. Mara was close enough in build and stature to Luke's sister that Han was likely to find something for her, but Mara was already itching to pick up some new outfits. For the moment, it would have to wait.

Mara and Luke sat in silence for a few minutes, both lost again in private thoughts. Finally Mara yawned, and stood up. "I think I'll grab a quick shower." Luke nodded at her absently.

She glanced at her fiancé, and suddenly got the strong urge to ask him to join her. With a sigh she quashed the impulse, although that was difficult to accomplish. Solo would be back soon with some clothes, and she had suffered enough embarrassment for one day. Besides, her first time with Luke should be… special. She didn't need a sweeping romantic gesture, although she knew from his proposal on Nirauan that Luke was certainly capable of making one. Regardless, a brief union in the shower in Luke's quarters was not the right way to go, _this time_. She again regretted her loss of the _Fire_ on Nirauan, although now for a different reason. If they had only been in a ship with a little more space…

She caught Luke staring at her, and through the Force caught a vague feeling of the word _soon_ coming from his mind. She narrowed her eyes at him. _Stay out of my mind, Skywalker_. Her unspoken thought obviously made it through, as he blushed and looked away. She was surprised to find she wasn't particularly upset at the unintentional intrusion for once, and she pulled him to his feet and kissed him.

He felt him stretch out in the Force to her, and mirrored his action. It was still hard to let someone in like this, but she nearly gasped as she felt the streams of their feelings merge into one. Like on the Chiss planet, she suddenly _knew_ Luke, although the experience wasn't the same as that first time. She was amazed to find that she was learning _new_ things about him, discovering new memories and new feelings. She had thought on Nirauan that she knew him completely, but she now discovered that she'd been _very_ wrong. There was more, so much more of Luke that she would be able to explore, and for that brief moment she relished in the thought of the lifetime they'd have together to build that deeper connection.

The bond, and the kiss, passed altogether too quickly for Mara, and again she almost dragged him into the shower with her. With an internal sigh of impatience, she let go and smiled at him. Neither spoke, for no words needed to be said. With another sigh, this time audible, she turned and disappeared into the refresher.

Luke stood for a long moment, just staring at the door to the 'fresher. The Force bond between them had shocked him, just like it had on Nirauan. This time, though, it was because it had been _different_. There were new depths to Mara that he hadn't seen previously, and during the bond he had caught a glimpse of just how far those depths ran. For a brief moment he was again a child on Tatooine, looking up at the stars and yearning to explore them all. He knew intellectually that he could no more easily learn all there was to know about Mara than he could explore the entire universe. Life was too short. He vowed to himself then and there to explore as much as he could. Of Mara's soul. The universe, suddenly, was not so important.

A few short minutes later he was interrupted by a buzzer at his front door. _Han's here_. He aimed this thought at Mara, and felt an acknowledgment through the Force. It wouldn't do to have her walk naked out of the 'fresher in front of his brother-in-law.

Han entered the room carrying a small armful of clothes, and walked into Luke's bedroom to toss them in a pile on the bed. Returning to the main room, he grinned at his wife's brother, and shook his head.

"You finally made it, kid. You have no idea how many times I wanted to smack you in the head for not seeing all of this sooner."

Luke shook his head gently, and let out a vaguely wistful noise. "Right now I wish you had," he said softly. Then Han saw him tense up some. "Blast, Han. How am I going to tell Leia? What is she going to say? She's not exactly been Mara's biggest fan over the past ten years."

Han was suddenly more serious than Luke had nearly ever seen him. "Maybe. But she's started to come around a little. Centerpoint helped." Luke saw his friend frown slightly, and become even more serious still. "Luke, we've all known each other almost twenty years. In that time, I've seen Leia cry for you more times than I can count. Life hasn't always been kind to you, kid, since I dragged your butt off that ball of dirt all those years ago. When Leia realizes how happy Mara has made you, she'll be ecstatic too. I don't have the Force, but even _I_ can tell how much difference these last few weeks have made in your life. Leia will feel it even more."

* * *

Luke took a deep breath as he prepared to enter Leia's quarters. Han had commed him fifteen minutes earlier to tell him that his sister was finally out of her last meeting. Now that Han and Karrde knew, Luke wanted to get the announcement over with before Leia collapsed into bed after her all-night succession of meetings.

He had discussed with Mara about how they should handle the announcement to Leia. The greatest love of his life had not had much insight to offer him, and they had finally agreed to wing it. On the walk to the Solo quarters, though, Han's last statement about the Force started bouncing around in his brain. Whether it was a prodding of the Force itself or not, Luke couldn't tell, but nevertheless he finally decided how he was going to break the news.

He saw Leia smile tiredly at him as he entered the room. "Hi, Luke. Han told me you had something you wanted to tell me." Luke saw her stop short as Mara walked in behind him. "Mara, I didn't expect you." Suddenly her eyes narrowed, and she turned to look at Han.

Han chuckled. "Sorry, dear. Mara has exactly one outfit currently, so I raided your wardrobe for a few things. I hope you don't mind."

Leia shook her head and smiled again. "No, it's fine. Mara can borrow whatever she needs, of course. Luke, what did you have to tell me?"

Mara waited with bated breath. She still had no idea how Luke was going to do this. She reached out in the Force towards Luke, just enough to try to get a sense of what he was preparing to do. She flinched involuntarily when she felt his hand reach out to take hers. More significantly, she was forced to stifle a gasp of surprise when she felt his mental barriers drop away.

The instant Force bond between Luke and Leia was far stronger than she was prepared for, and she felt herself being dragged into its periphery. She stood paralyzed with sudden fear as she sensed the thoughts flowing between Luke and his sister, and braced herself for Leia's reaction to Luke's unspoken announcement. As it turned out, the reaction surprised both Luke and Mara.

Leia's squeal of delight jolted Mara, and she could only stand there as her future sister-in-law rushed towards her and threw her arms around Mara. Mara flinched and tried to shrink back as she felt Leia plant kiss after kiss all over her face, on her cheeks, on her forehead, even on her lips. Her attempt at retreat only made Leia hold on tighter, though. Finally the older woman broke free, and Mara turned to look at the others in the room with deep embarrassment.

Despite this, she laughed out loud. Han and Luke were standing there with wide eyes and gaping mouths, and Mara could feel nothing but shock emanating from Luke. Leia turned to her brother and hugged him too. _Rather more sedately_, Mara noticed with a slight degree of annoyance.

Leia finally broke her embrace, and Mara saw tears streaming from her eyes. Luke wrapped an arm around Mara's waist as Leia sniffled and wiped away the tears running down her face. Leia beamed at the couple. "Thank the Force. I'm so happy for you two. I've been waiting for this for a long time."

Mara narrowed her eyes a bit. Despite her own joy, her tendency towards defensiveness and suspicion returned. "I thought you didn't like me."

She felt a flash of annoyance from Luke, and was momentarily angry with herself for her reaction. Ever the diplomat, though, Leia took the rather insensitive statement with grace.

"We've not always gotten along, Mara, and we've never been close. We _will_ be now." Leia glanced at her brother. "Even at the best of times, Luke has always had some sadness and loneliness in him. All I sense now is love and joy. That's all I've ever wanted for him. If you can make him feel that way, I will love you forever for that."

Leia was crying again, and Mara felt herself tear up as well. She let Leia hug her again, this time a little less hesitantly. Mara fought to control her tears, and succeeded, but briefly envied Leia for her willingness to weep in front of the others.

The embrace ended after a long moment, and Leia started gushing. "So, when is the wedding? I assume you'll have it here on Coruscant? Do you need help with the planning? Anything that I can do to help…"

As the deluge of questions poured forth, Mara found her apprehension starting to return. She looked over to Luke, sensing a flash of amusement from him. She narrowed her eyes threateningly at her fiancé. _This is all your fault_.

* * *

Sitting alone in the _Chimaera_'s forward visual triangulation site nine days later, Mara couldn't help but feel uneasy. Her previous experiences with this ship had been… adverse. Admiral Pellaeon had been surprisingly gracious to her and Luke, despite their role in the defeat of Thrawn, and had offered them the use of this room as an escape from the mass of beings currently on board ship for the treaty signing. They had not told him anything about the wedding, nor even their relationship, but Mara got the feeling that Pellaeon knew something about it anyway. The Admiral was a brilliant man, and some of Thrawn's insight had obviously rubbed off on him.

Unfortunately, Luke wasn't here at the moment. Off somewhere with his sister assisting with last minute preparations for the ceremony, he had left her alone for the time. She sighed quietly. _We've spent more time together in the last month than we had in the previous ten years combined, and suddenly I get lonely when he's away for an hour._ She was annoyed with herself, and of course blamed Luke more than a little for his part in making her feel this way. She sighed again. _It's worth it. Probably._

A tap on the door startled her, and she knew without using the Force that it wasn't Luke. _He would have just walked in_. She called out for the person to enter, and wasn't particularly surprised to find Karrde standing there.

"Mara, I'm sorry to disturb you. Do you have a moment?"

_Yes, please, drag me out of my ridiculous self-pity_. She smiled at her former employer. "Sure. Luke's off somewhere. What can I do for you?"

The older man sat down. "I wanted to let you know that Faughn dropped off what was left of your possessions this morning. Chewbacca loaded them into the _Falcon_. There wasn't much left, but I think we got everything."

Mara nodded sadly. Almost everything she owned had been on the _Fire_. Fortunately, she had never been particularly sentimental, and almost everything she owned could be easily replaced. _Almost _everything.

She noticed Karrde take a deep breath before speaking. "Listen, Mara, I hope this doesn't upset you. I had Faughn send me an inventory of your belongings, so they went through the stuff you had packed away, too."

Mara narrowed her eyes at him. This _did_ upset her, since she valued her privacy more than almost anything.

Karrde took a _really_ deep breath this time. "Mara, I wanted you to have something. Call it an engagement gift." With that, he handed her a small box and held his breath.

She frowned as she opened it to find a small holo. Thumbing it on, she gasped, and immediately broke down. She turned away and buried her face into her hands for a long moment, fighting for control. Finally she was able to speak again, and turned back to him.

Her voice was the quietest whisper. "I thought I lost this. I thought it was on the _Fire_…"

Karrde nodded. His voice was quiet and kind. "It was, Mara. At least, I assume it was. Before we left Coruscant, I tracked down another copy. It took some doing. A few bribes, some highly illegal slicing from Ghent, and a few thousand credits for the holographer to let his copy of the file go. But I know how much it means to you, and I wanted you to have it back. I have a copy, so if anything happens to this one, you'll know how to replace it."

Mara stared at the holo, still trying to maintain control. The image was of her and Luke, just after he gave her his father's lightsaber on Coruscant. Luke had given the holo to her years ago, on Yavin 4, at a time that both of them now looked back on with pain and regret. Mara realized just how much she had loved Luke, at the time that holo had been taken. But _that_ Luke, her protector, confidant, and friend, had been gone for many years. Rushing madly around the galaxy, making bad decisions, alienating his friends and family. She had caught only glimpses of the old Luke in the past few years. She knew he was finally back now, and that all was again right with the universe.

She looked up with tears in her eyes. "Karrde, how did you know...?" Her voice choked, ending her question early.

Karrde sighed. "It was an accident, Mara. You dropped off some stuff once when you were travelling around with Lando, and we broke the box when we were putting it away. We had to pack everything back up, and I saw the holo. That's when I realized how much you cared for Luke, just for the fact that you took the holo with you when you traveled. When I heard that you lost the _Fire_, I _knew_ that it had been lost too. I didn't tell anyone what they should be looking for, but I asked Faughan to inventory your stuff to confirm, and I went ahead and tracked down the holographer anyway. I can't replace everything you've lost, but I wanted to do this one thing for you."

She was really crying now. She managed to get out, "Thank you, Talon," between sobs, but it was all the talking she could handle.

Her former boss was like a father to her, but he was not one for emotional displays, and she was already embarrassed to be crying in front of him. Karrde stood up, smiled at her, and said "You're welcome, Mara. See you later." With that, he patted her on the shoulder, and left the room.

It took several long minutes for the tears to stop, but they did, just in time. She was boxing the holo back up when Luke walked into the room. His brow crinkled as he saw what she was doing. "What's that?"

Mara smiled at him, hoping the tears didn't still show on her face. "A small gift from Karrde for our engagement. I'll show you later."

* * *

The signing ceremony for the Pellaeon-Gavrisom Treaty had been brief, but the party threatened to continue for hours. Mara stood alone, leaning against a wall in the "ballroom" aboard the _Chimaera_, really a converted hangar that had been emptied for the occasion. She and Luke had agreed to split up for much of the night, so as not to telegraph their new relationship to the majority of the most important beings in both the Imperial Remnant and the New Republic. They had also agreed that they would individually break the news to their closest friends at the party.

Both Mara and Luke had overlooked the fact that she had very few friends at the party, while Luke had many. She sighed with some degree of vexation as she watched the festivities. Couples waltzed on the ballroom floor, while knots of senators and military leaders discussed developments in quiet tones throughout the hangar. Of her friends among Karrde's group, only Karrde himself was here, along with Shada D'ukal, and of course Karrde already knew about the engagement.

She and Luke had gotten only a single chance to talk to each other thus far during the evening, and so far neither had spilled the secret to anyone. Their brief reunion was cut short when Winter, Leia's personal assistant, dragged Luke out onto the dance floor. Mara watched with some amusement as they danced. Winter, she had learned several years earlier, had taught Luke to dance years ago after the battle of Endor. Luke had ashamedly admitted to her that Threepio had finished his instruction after Winter had been called away, and Mara earnestly wished that the droid were here at the party to demonstrate how that arrangement had worked.

Luke was now surrounded by a knot of Rogue Squadron pilots. Wedge Antilles, Gavin Darklighter, Wes Janson, Hobbie Klivian, and Tycho Celchu crowded around Luke, arms waving as they obviously engaged in some sort of discussion on the finer points of piloting. Winter, who was married to Celchu, hovered at the periphery of the group, listening intently and no doubt cataloguing the conversation with her holographic memory.

Mara sighed again as she heard Wedge yelp from across the room, and saw the older man wrap Luke up in a hug. _I guess he told them_. This was confirmed when she saw Winter look her way and smile, and she tried to hide her face a bit to avoid being deluged by Rogue well-wishers. She relaxed a bit when she saw Luke hold Wedge back from walking over to her. Clearly he didn't want a public display quite yet.

She sighed again as she looked around for someone with whom to talk. She realized with a start that one senior Rogue pilot had been missing from that group - Corran Horn. She looked around and finally spotted him talking to his wife Mirax and the Caamasi senator Elegos A'kla across the room. She took a deep breath. _Ok, if Luke can tell all of the Rogues, at least I can break the news to Corran_. Corran had been as close as she had gotten to a friend while at the Jedi Academy, and she knew Mirax reasonably well from occasional meetings on board her father's private Star Destroyer during work trips.

She saw Corran smile as she approached the group. Corran quickly introduced her to Elegos, then narrowed his eyes at her. "Mara, I heard you had something to do with all this, but no one could tell me what it was."

Mara gave him a conspiratorial smile. "Classified. Sorry." She turned to the other woman. "Mirax, good to see you again."

Mirax smiled back at her. "You too, Mara. I didn't realize you were here, or we would have dragged you over here a long time ago."

Mara waved away the comment. She took a deep breath. _Ok, how do I do this? I need an opening._

Mirax gave her one. "I always meant to thank you for taking such good care of my husband on Yavin 4 while I was… indisposed. I'm not sure he would have made it through as much of his training without you, and I'm not sure he would have found me without that training."

Mara stared at her for a moment, and suddenly she knew what she should say. Proddings of the Force, perhaps. "You know, Mirax, when I got to know Corran I was _so_ jealous of you." Her words were sincere. She saw Mirax's mouth drop open, and Corran turned ashen.

Mara laughed. "Relax, not like that. Corran's a decent-enough guy, but not my type. Besides, he would be dead within a week in a relationship with me." Corran laughed, and Mirax clamped her mouth shut and raised an eyebrow, so Mara continued. "What I meant was, I was jealous of the overwhelming love he had for you, enough for him to drop everything and risk his life to find you and save you. I couldn't imagine anyone doing something like that for me."

Mirax gave her a vaguely sad look, and Corran stopped laughing. It was he who spoke. "Mara, you'll find someone someday. There's someone perfect out there for you. Like I was for Mirax." He punctuated the last with a wink at his wife, who punched him playfully on the arm. "No one's perfect, Corran. _Especially_ not you."

Mara took another deep breath. "That's why I came over here, actually. As it turns out, someone did drop everything and risk his life to come save me. In a few months, I'm going to marry him."

Shocked expressions immediately arose on the faces of Mirax and Corran, but Elegos simply stood there with a serene smile. Mara wondered briefly if someone had let him in on the secret, or if the famous Caamasi insight had allowed him to anticipate what was happening.

All Corran could manage was a single word. "Who?"

Mara had thought of a thousand ways to answer the question, most of them sarcastic. Elegos, however, beat her to the punch.

"Corran Horn, you should be able to answer this question for yourself. I think you will find the answer, with careful thought, somewhere in the back of your head."

The man looked puzzled for a moment, and Mara could see both him and his wife trying desperately to guess. A familiar voice from behind made both Mirax and Corran jump.

"I'm disappointed, Corran, that you've forgotten so quickly the riddles Elegos often uses to teach you your lessons. When he says you will find the answer in the back of your head, he does not mean for you to search your mind. He means for you to turn around."

Mara started laughing hysterically as Corran whirled around to come face-to-face with Luke Skywalker.

Corran's thoughts started turning at light-years per second. He was so shocked at the revelation that he couldn't speak, but at the same time was less surprised than he might have guessed. Through the Force he felt a wave of happiness from both Luke and Mara, and he closed his eyes for a moment. Luke had always seemed prone to melancholy, and Mara had always been hostile and sarcastic, but Corran felt only love and contentment radiating from them now.

Corran hugged Luke, then considered Mara. He wanted to hug her, but feared he might lose an arm in the process of trying to congratulate her. She had always been fierce about protecting her personal space. Her fitted formal gown left few places to inconspicuously hide a lightsaber, but Corran didn't put it past her to have figured out how to do so anyway.

Mirax, as it turned out, was much braver than her husband. She went straight for Mara and enfolded her in a hug, despite the fact that the two women were not much more than passing acquaintances. Mara flinched badly, but Corran saw Mirax whisper something in her ear, and Mara laughed and relaxed a bit. Once the women broke their embrace, Elegos congratulated Mara and Luke and quietly left took his leave to go and seek out Leia.

Corran decided not to try to awkwardly hug Mara. Instead, he did the next best thing. "Mara, would you like to dance? If that's ok with you, Luke."

Luke laughed at that. "Be careful asking my permission for something like that, Corran. I have no doubt Mara will try to kill you if you make that mistake again, but I do have some doubt about my ability to stop her." Luke's laughter trailed off a bit. "Mara can speak for herself. Mirax, may I have the honor of a dance?" He didn't bother asking for Corran's permission, and the whole exchange pleased Mara to no end. _He might _actually_ be learning._

Mara was tense as they danced, much as Corran had expected. He looked over to see Mirax and Luke laughing and dancing, and felt a brief twinge of annoyance at their ease together. He decided to try to break the ice with Mara.

"I think I'm still in shock, a little bit."

Mara narrowed her eyes at him as they danced. "Why, Horn? Wouldn't have put us together?"

Corran tried a weak smile. "Actually, I thought you two might get together someday, once we got to know each other at the Academy. It just seemed less and less likely as the years went by."

Mara rolled her eyes and sighed, but she relaxed a little bit. "I'm getting tired of everyone telling me that. It seems like everyone we've told so far has thought for years that we should be together. The only ones who didn't realize it were me and Luke."

Corran's smile brightened a bit. "Maybe so. Sometimes your friends and family know you better than you know yourself. All of that is in the past, anyway. You two are as good a match as any couple I've ever met. He's probably the only man in the galaxy with the patience and strength to put up with being married to you."

Mara snarled at him, and he quickly added to his statement. "And you're probably the only woman in the galaxy who can love him as _Luke Skywalker_ and not as _Luke Skywalker_, _most exalted Jedi Master_."

Mara relaxed and smiled at the last bit. "Hero worship was never something I had very much interest in." Corran snorted. "You're not kidding about that."

With that, they danced quietly until the end of the piece.

* * *

Hours later, Luke and Mara found themselves on the dance floor together as the party was beginning to wind down. Luke had spread the news to a handful of others, while Mara found herself spending most of the evening talking to Corran and Mirax, then to Karrde and Solo. Mara suddenly felt the urge to kiss Luke, right there in the middle of the dance floor, and had to push back against that desire again.

Luke smiled at her, and spoke in a quiet voice so as not to be overheard. "Do you remember the last time we danced like this?"

Mara snorted quietly. Her mind flashed back to that night on Coruscant. "You mean the _only_ time, Skywalker? Yes, I remember. I might someday even admit to having enjoyed it."

Luke frowned at her. "You know, most of my friends call me Luke…"

Mara's eyes narrowed, but her tone was playful. "Friends? Taking a few steps backward there, I think."

Luke blushed a little. "I could have said _lovers_, but it seemed a little impolitic, given the situation."

Mara smirked. "All _two_ of your lovers? That doesn't exactly fill me with burning jealousy." She chuckled at him.

Luke stared at her, and she sensed his amusement through the Force. It was her turn to blush. "Ok, fine, Skywalker, now it's _three_ lovers. The point still stands. And you'll always be _Skywalker_ to me. You can be _Luke_ when you stop annoying me."

Luke laughed. "I won't hold my breath."

Mara laughed too. "A wise choice."

Luke felt a wave of contentment from Mara, and basked in the feeling for a moment while they danced. Finally he sighed and changed the subject.

"Leia has been making plans for the wedding."

Mara rolled her eyes. "Your brother-in-law told me. She wants to announce the engagement to the galaxy in a few weeks once everything has settled down. I okayed it, although I'm not quite sure now why I agreed."

Luke blinked. "Ashamed to marry me?"

Mara chuckled. "No, more worried about all the enraged potential suitors I'll have to fight off until I get you down the aisle. Solo's lucky he only had to deal with that Isolder fellow."

Luke smiled gently. "Actually, I thought we might get away for a bit. We can hopefully avoid the media frenzy that's sure to follow Leia's announcement. There's this place on Garqi I heard about…. Think you can get away from your work for a few more weeks?"

Mara beamed at him. "Sounds perfect. Karrde told me not to worry about work until after the wedding and honeymoon, so I'm in. Spending some time alone together and not getting shot at in the process would be a nice change of pace."

Luke began to respond, but felt a sudden wave of sadness from Mara. He frowned. "Mara, what's wrong?"

She looked at him, obviously startled. "Sorry, Luke. It's my problem. Don't let it bother you tonight."

Luke narrowed his eyes at her. "Your problems are _my_ problems now, Jade. Spill it."

Mara took a deep breath. "It's really not a big deal. I just realized tonight that I don't have any friends to stand beside me in the wedding party. Most of Karrde's top people are men, and I don't really have a close female friend in the galaxy who I can ask to be a bridesmaid. I just hadn't thought about it until I saw you talking and laughing with Antilles and the others."

Luke furrowed his brow. He hadn't thought about it, either. Finally he blinked and looked up. "You could ask Leia…"

Mara nodded. "I planned to. My relationship with your sister hasn't been exactly smooth, and I want that to change. But one bridesmaid isn't much of a start when I probably need five or so."

Luke thought some more. "What about Tionne?"

Mara considered for a moment. "We weren't the best of friends at the Academy, but she's not a bad choice, either." She stared at him. "Now, can the famed Skywalker wisdom come up with three more names?" Luke couldn't quite tell if she was being sarcastic or sincere.

He smiled. "We're starting a new life together. You may not have a lot of friends, but _I _do. My friends will be your friends, especially once they see how happy you've made me. Perhaps the wedding is the perfect time for you to make some new friends."

Mara frowned. "_Perhaps_. But if I'm going to have close friends, they'll need to be people _I_ can respect and relate to. Not just people that my husband likes."

Luke went wide-eyed suddenly. "I just figured it out…" Mara just stared at him with raised eyebrows, so Luke continued.

"You want strong female friends who can keep up with you. I know just the three. Iella Antilles, Winter, and Mirax." He winced suddenly. "Incidentally, Corran and I agreed once that you and his wife should never become friends, because you're too much alike. It's too bad I have to break that promise now."

Mara narrowed her eyes. "Why did you pick those three?"

Luke laughed. "The perfect new friends for you are three women who are strong and confident enough to be in complete control of their relationships with their husbands, despite those husbands being hotshot pilots in Rogue Squadron. Wedge, Tycho, and Corran barely get a say in anything in their marriages. Especially Corran, if you haven't noticed."

Luke suddenly had a gleam in his eyes. "Just like you'll be the one in complete control of _our_ marriage."

Mara snorted. "I can't imagine Luke Skywalker giving up control of anything, much less his marriage."

Luke's deadpan reply was perfect. "I can't imagine Mara Jade giving him any choice in the matter at all."

Mara giggled, and had to fight not to laugh too loudly. "Skywalker, you know me altogether too well." Her voice took on a playfully threatening tone. "Too well for your own good, perhaps…"

Luke smiled at her, but his face suddenly shifted into a slight frown. "I never thought to ask, but will you stay Mara Jade? Or will it be Mara Skywalker?"

Mara frowned, then grinned mischievously at him. "I don't even know if Jade is my real last name, but I think I will go with 'Mara Jade Skywalker'. That way I can keep my identity, but I can cash in on the recognition and awe that goes along with the Skywalker name, not to mention the fear."

Luke laughed, then leaned in to kiss her. Her eyes went wide, and he pulled back quickly. "_Shavit_."

Mara looked surprised at his profanity. "Skywalker, swearing? What new wonders will marriage bring me?"

Luke eyed her coolly. "It's become somewhat harder for me to keep myself from kissing you at every opportunity."

Mara looked around quickly, and saw no one looking their way at the moment. "Want to get out of here? I understand there's an empty room on the _Falcon_ tonight. Pellaeon assigned Leia quarters aboard ship."

Luke blushed a bit. "On the _Falcon_, tonight? The past few days haven't been enough for you?"

Mara rolled her eyes. _Farmboys_. "We have ten years of missed opportunities to make up for, Skywalker. I'll let you know when I've had _enough_. Until then, you're on duty whenever I call. Oh, and don't expect a reprieve anytime soon. Now let's go. March."

Mara heard Luke chuckle, and felt a distinct sense of longing and desire emanating from her lover. _Lover, and soon, husband_. The idea still caused some wonder inside her.

Luke got in the last words. "Yes, ma'am. Lead the way."


	7. Jade Sabre

_**JADE SABRE**_

**19.5 ABY **- One month after _Union_

Luke gives his new wife a present.

* * *

Luke Skywalker had been waiting for Mara all day. Jedi Masters were known for their patience, and Luke was no exception. He had discovered, however, that a _recently-wed_ Jedi Master who had not seen his beautiful wife in nearly a month was rather less patient. Finally, though, the call had come from Kam Solusar. The _Starry Ice_ was in-system. He gave an unusual order to Kam, and was briefly annoyed when he was asked to repeat it. Then, he went to meet his wife.

Standing outside the Great Temple a few minutes later, at an auxiliary landing site, Luke smiled as he watched Mara Jade Skywalker descend down the ramp, a small bag in hand. She always traveled light. She had only just cleared the ramp when it began to close, and the freighter took off nearly as quickly. Clearly, Karrde's people had places to be.

Mara looked slightly perplexed as he made his way to her. "Luke, why did you have us land out here? Faughn was a bit annoyed about not being allowed into the main hangar."

Luke smiled at her as he approached. "Sorry, slight logistical problem. No offense intended." He carefully hid his thoughts on the matter behind a Force barrier. It wouldn't do to ruin the surprise.

He reached out for Mara as he finally got to her, then jumped slightly as she grabbed him and kissed him, _hard_. The kiss lasted a long moment, and he blushed a bit as he looked over at Kam, who had also come out to greet the _Starry Ice_. Kam simply chuckled softly, his thoughts locked away somewhere in his mind where Luke could not sense them. Kam quickly gathered up Mara's bag, and walked away quietly.

Luke chuckled softly as he looked his wife over. "I take it you missed me?"

Of course, Mara was unlikely to admit to it, and she didn't. Instead she simply narrowed her eyes and glared at him, but he felt a shimmer of happiness from her nonetheless. He enfolded her in a hug for a moment, then released and smiled at her again.

"Well, _I_ missed _you_. I'm glad you're back."

Mara sighed softly. "I'm not back for long. Mirax is supposed to drop by tomorrow to pick me up. Karrde is running a small project with Booster and Mirax, and he wanted me in on it."

Luke surprised her with his amused smile. "I know."

She had expected sadness, if not anger, from him. They hadn't seen each other since just after the honeymoon, and they would only have a single night together before she left again. Mara knew it would not be enough for either of them.

She narrowed her eyes. The mission was also supposed to be a secret. "How did you know? You shouldn't have..."

Luke's smile remained on his face. "Corran is here, which reminds me, you should say hello to him when you get a chance. He told me about the mission." Corran had been one of her best friends while she trained at the Academy. They were not extremely close, but it was _usually_ good to see him.

Mara wasn't sure why she was beginning to feel annoyed. "Then why are you smiling, Luke? You shouldn't be happy that I'm leaving with Mirax tomorrow."

Luke's gaze softened, and she noted him preparing to say something that might set her off. "Actually, Mirax is not coming tomorrow. Or at all, even. I asked her not to."

This did indeed set her off. "_Dammit_, Skywalker. You can't cancel my plans without even kriffing asking. I know we've been apart for a while, but this project is _important_. You know I still have obligations to Karrde."

She got even angrier when she saw another amused smile on Luke's face. His words didn't help anything. "Patience, Mara."

She had resigned herself to removing his head from the rest of his body with her lightsaber, but he quickly continued. "Please let me explain. Your involvement with this mysterious project of yours has not been _canceled_. The arrangements have merely been… altered, per my suggestion. It will not affect your schedule in the slightest."

_Some_ of her anger had faded, and she didn't resist as he reached out and put his hand on her back. "Please, follow me."

They walked in silence into the Great Temple. He was leading her towards the main hangar bay, she noticed, but she was still a bit too upset to demand an explanation. Entering the main hangar bay, though, she gasped, all of her anger fading away in an instant.

Luke chuckled softly, having sensed her shock through the Force. "I've tentatively named her the _Jade Sabre_. You may of course change the name to whatever you like. Happy wedding, Mara."

She shivered with pleasure, and wrapped an arm around Luke's waist, resting her head on his shoulder for a moment. The name was _perfect_.

She smiled as she eyed the ship. To her eye roughly fifty meters long, the silver ship was sleek, clearly resembling the pointed blade of a sword. Two flared pods to the rear of the craft held ion drives. Mara did not recognize the ship's design as anything available commercially, and she was familiar with nearly every class of ship available commercially in the known galaxy. This meant a custom build, and custom was _expensive_.

She gaped at her husband. "How could you manage to afford this? And when did you find the time?"

Luke smiled at her. "The Jedi have a lot of friends around the galaxy. Much of the funding for the Academy comes from the New Republic, but it is not our only source of credits. The name _Skywalker_ also opens doors in many places. It turned out to be rather easy to get the ship constructed quickly, once I found a receptive builder. Most of the rest of the modifications I did myself, while you were gone this past month. With the help of a few friends, of course." He winked at her.

Mara was speechless, and Luke turned serious for a moment. "I know how much the _Fire_ meant to you, my love, and what it represented. I wanted to thank you for what you sacrificed on Nirauan. And, I wanted you to have your freedom back."

This comment jolted her. She looked up at her husband with a tear in her eye. "Luke, my freedom… it's not that important anymore. I could never leave you…"

Luke smiled gently. "I know, Mara. I did not mean freedom in that sense, particularly. You do have duties and obligations to others, not just to me. I want you to be able to fulfill them, when you need to. You've always relied on yourself. Your own ship allows you to do that. I will trust that you will be able and willing to rely on others too, when you need to do so. And, especially, to rely on me."

She was on the verge of crying, and pulled Luke close to kiss him again. The feeling of love that washed over her helped to calm her thoughts, and she wiped away the remaining moisture from her eyes. Beaming at Luke, she asked him to show her around her ship.

Luke took her hand and lead her onboard, talking as he went. "You'll meet up with Mirax aboard the _Errant Venture_ in the Kessel system in five days," he said, speaking of Booster Terrik's personal Star Destroyer. "You and Mirax can fight about whose ship you'll use once you get there." He smiled impishly at her. "The change in plans will give you three nights here, instead of just one. I thought we might put the extra time together to good use."

He raised his eyebrows at her, and she snorted. "You're incorrigible, Skywalker."

He winked. "No, merely desperately in love."

She gave him a sigh of mock annoyance. "Ok, fine, you convinced me." She paused, and smiled sweetly. "But you'll have to show me the rest of my ship first."

He laughed. "Deal. Where do you want to start?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "The cockpit." _Where else_?

Luke nodded and pulled her along. While they walked, he began relating some of the aspects of the design. "The _Sabre_ will accommodate fifteen passengers, if need be. She can also carry one hundred metric tons of cargo, and I had them put in a few… uh, hidden… compartments.

Mara frowned slightly. "One hundred tons isn't a large capacity for a ship this size. She's much bigger than the _Falcon_, with the same cargo space."

Luke smiled slyly at her. "True. The aft bay here holds a starfighter. We tracked down a new Z-95 for you. It's not been delivered yet, but we expect it in a few weeks. I've had a few modifications done on it, too." His voice changed slightly. "The bay can also hold an X-wing. I thought that might be a handy feature."

Mara felt a deep wellspring of happiness at the thought. "You plan to travel with me often?"

Luke nodded. "Off and on, for the next few years, while we transition the Academy into a pre-Jedi school, and while you finish up your obligations to Karrde. After that," he smiled, "you'll have to kill me to keep me away from you."

Mara laughed. "Don't give me any ideas," she said menacingly, but softened it with another kiss.

They finally reached the cockpit. Mara's eyes widened as she looked around the relatively large space.

Luke continued his explanations. "I went with side-by-side pilot/copilot seats. The entire ship can be run solely from the pilot's station, but I didn't want to sit behind you when I accompany you on the _Sabre_." He chuckled. "Despite how lovely the back of your head is."

Mara turned to glare at him, but she couldn't quite force herself to be annoyed at his joke.

Luke went on. "As you can see, I also had a navigator's station installed behind the pilot's chair, and an extra seat installed behind the copilot's."

Mara frowned a bit at this. The arrangement was standard on many light freighters, but it didn't really seem necessary on this one. "You planning on dragging others along with us when we travel?" She would have guessed that Luke would design a more intimate space.

Luke gave her a guarded smile. "Not immediately. But, I hope, someday…"

Mara had to call on the Force to keep her surprise from showing on her face. They hadn't really talked about children, but Luke was clearly hinting strongly at the subject now. Mara wasn't sure this was the right time to talk about it, but Luke apparently thought so.

She had to force herself to respond. "You really want children?"

Luke nodded. "Yes, I do. I don't know what the future holds, but with the peace between the Imperial Remnant and the New Republic, I have hope for a quieter life. I see what Han and Leia have, and how much joy their kids bring them, and I've realized I want that with you. We could be happy together forever with only each other, but I think we could be even happier with children."

He took a deep breath before asking the question. "What about you, Mara. Do you want kids?"

She was quiet for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, I think I do. At least one, anyway. I never could have imagined I'd say that, even a few years ago. It may be a while…"

Luke sighed. "I know. We both still have a lot left to do for a while. I can be patient." He winked at her again. "Besides, there are still some parts of the whole process of reproduction I'd like to continue practicing."

She rolled her eyes again, but the joke was the perfect way to lighten the mood. She was pleased to see him blush a little, as usual. _Vintage Skywalker. Can't even proposition me in private without being embarrassed._

She gave him her best icy stare. "You still haven't finished showing me my ship."

He started speaking again before she even finished her objection, clearly having anticipated her response, and there was amusement in his voice. "As I mentioned, the _Sabre_ can be controlled completely by the pilot. This includes propulsion as well as communications, which I tried to match as closely as possible to what you had available on the _Fire_. It also includes defensive systems and armaments, of course.

Mara smiled. "I thought you'd never get there. What armaments?"

Luke laughed. "Defensive systems include military-grade shields, on par with what you might find on a corvette, along with the usual missile detection and countermeasure systems found on that size of ship." Mara whistled at that, impressed.

Luke continued. "For armaments, I've put in four quad laser cannons, individually retractable, which gives you the ability to hide some or all of the _Sabre_'s firepower if needed. There are dual concussion missile launchers up front. You also have a tractor beam projector salvaged from a _Nebulon-B_ frigate."

Mara's eyes were wide. "How did you manage all that?" The ship was more heavily-armed than even the _Falcon_.

Luke raised an eyebrow in amusement. "A lot of people owe me a lot of favors. I called in a few. Karrde, Lando, Han, Booster, some others. It is somewhat worrisome how easily they all got their hands on military-grade hardware."

Mara wasn't surprised. Her former employer had numerous sources for such equipment, and each of the others was also well-connected. She wanted to know more. "Avionics?"

Luke responded. "As I mentioned, a full comm suite, including a holo array. A full military-grade sensor system, including jamming and decoys. Artoo hacked the transponder system, and we've set you up to be able to modulate transponder codes. You have the normal autopilot system, and I've had an astromech station included so Artoo can have control over most of the ship's functions if necessary, including basic flying. Also, astronav capabilities equivalent to that used on the _Wild Karrde_."

Luke had thought of nearly everything, she was pleased to note. The custom work made the _Jade Sabre _one of the most heavily-armed and most capable light freighters in the galaxy. There was only one more thing to ask.

"Propulsion?"

Luke smiled at her. Instead of answering immediately, he reached over and punched the button to start the main engines. "Let's find out. Fancy a shakedown cruise?"

It took only a few short minutes for the ship to warm up. Almost tentatively, Mara activated the repulsorlifts and edged the _Sabre_ out of the main hangar. She looked over at her husband, seated in the copilot's seat, and smiled. "Strap yourself in."

She goosed the main throttle, and the acceleration from the ion engines thrust her back in her seat. She managed to mutter "wow", then heard Luke laugh beside her.

"She won't quite match the _Falcon_ at maximum sublight in vacuum, but she'll beat that old heap in atmosphere. Better aerodynamics. She's not going to outrun an A-wing, but she'll be faster than pretty much anything you're going to run across that's not a state-of-the-art military-grade starfighter."

Mara had to fight to keep her jaw from dropping. Luke knew piloting as well as anyone in the galaxy, but the ship he designed was more capable than she would ever have guessed.

One more question. "Hyperdrive?"

Interestingly, he got a slightly devious look. "You have a class four hyperdrive…" He paused.

Now her jaw dropped as she looked at him. _Of all the things to skimp on_…

He chuckled as he continued. "…as a backup. Main hyperdrive rates at just better than point-three, unofficially."

Mara almost choked. That rating made her ship faster through hyperspace than any ship of which she had ever heard. It was faster than any military ship in the New Republic or Imperial Remnant. It was faster than the _Wild Karrde_, faster than Boba Fett's famous _Slave I_. It was even faster than the _Millennium Falcon_, and by a significant margin.

Mara couldn't even ask how Luke had accomplished the feat. She noticed with some small annoyance that he just sat there and grinned at her. She was fairly certain that Karrde couldn't have found the drive, nor Solo or Calrissian, or they'd have outfitted their own ships with it. She also got the impression from Luke that, should she ask about the hyperdrive, she'd only receive an evasive answer delivered in that slightly superior tone he got on the _rare_ occasions he managed to one-up her.

She was so awed by the gift he had given her that she couldn't even sustain her annoyance for long. The _Sabre_ was more capable than the _Fire_ in pretty much every measureable way. Nothing would ever replace her first ship in her heart, but she could envision herself coming to love this ship just as much, if not more.

So, she did the only thing she could. Reaching out, she squeezed Luke's hand, opening herself to the Force and letting all the love, affection, and admiration she felt for her husband wash out over him, feeling it returned even more strongly. Their touch was almost electric, and she felt a tingling sensation run up and down her spine, along with a warm feeling deep in her core.

She saw Luke smile gently at her. "We ran the _Sabre_ through some basic tests, but no one wanted to take the privilege of the first true test flight from you. Perhaps you'd like to demonstrate what she can do?"

Mara smiled too as she let go of his hand. She felt a flutter of excitement as she dialed the inertial compensator down to 95%. She was gratified, as she launched into her first set of maneuvers, to see the white knuckles on the hand grasping the right armrest of the copilot's chair. The left hand gave no tell-tale sign.

* * *

Mara had spent nearly four hours putting the _Jade Sabre_ through her paces, systematically testing all the systems one-by-one. She reserved a small bit of her attention during this time for use in monitoring her husband's feelings through the Force. He had dropped more than one hint about potential evening activities during their tour of the ship, but she noticed nothing but patience and affection emanating from Luke during her flying. This annoyed her slightly. The longing _had_ to be there, but he was clearly hiding it from her. Whether out of respect for her testing process, or out of his own farmboyish embarrassment, she couldn't guess.

Finishing the testing, she had landed the _Sabre_ with confidence, as if she had been flying the ship her entire life. She saw a gentle smile on Luke's face as she touched down, and decided that it was admiration for her piloting. _It better be, if he knows what's good for him_.

She continued to sense nothing but patience and affectionate feelings through the Force as they left the main hangar, so she decided to twist the vibroblade a bit by forcing him to stop for dinner at the Academy mess hall. Even this delay didn't seem to upset his demeanor in the slightest, and Mara found herself annoyed again. _Clearly, he's determined to win tonight_.

Eventually they made it back to Luke's quarters. Mara entered to a dim glow of candles, and turned to look at her husband, surprised. He just smiled serenely at her, and she gave up any pretext of an effort to win a point from Luke tonight. He had clearly had too much time to prepare.

As Luke lay down on the bed, she nudged him over and burrowed into his arms. She expected a caress immediately, but he seemed to sense her need for a quiet moment of intimacy. Luke wrapped his arms tightly around her, and she felt an immediate warmth that was surely part natural body heat and part deep feelings of tenderness felt through the Force.

Mara lay there for a long moment, contemplating her feelings and basking in those she felt from Luke. Finally, she sighed softly and spoke. "Luke, does this ever feel like a dream to you?"

She could feel a bit of confusion from him, which no doubt matched the look on his face. She could not confirm this, given that they were not facing each other. It took him a few seconds to respond. "Does what feel like a dream?"

She sighed again. "All of this. Nirauan, the peace accords, our marriage, everything. Sometimes I find myself fearing that it's all a dream, and that I'll wake up and all of this will be gone."

She rolled over to see Luke shake his head. "No, Mara, it doesn't feel like a dream to me."

She frowned. "Not ever?"

He shook his head again. "No. What does feel like a dream to me is most of the last ten years. Not a dream, a nightmare. Like I fell asleep some short time after we met, and when I finally woke up, everything was as it should be. All the darkness, the mistakes, the fighting, all gone, and all that was left was _us_."

His words touched her heart, but she was naturally sarcastic. "You're a sentimental fool, Skywalker." Her delivery was dry but gentle.

She saw him blink. "Perhaps," he allowed. "Sorry."

Mara's emerald eyes gleamed in the candlelight. "I _might_ be able to forgive you. But you'll have to make it up to me."

As she pulled him close and kissed him deeply, her hands pressed firmly against the muscles in his back. It was clear what he would have to do to make it up to her.

Luke Skywalker was more than happy to oblige.


	8. Jade Rebirth

_**JADE REBIRTH**_

**26 ABY **- During _New Jedi Order: Edge of Victory II: Rebirth_

An expanded version of Mara's final battle with her disease, and the subsequent birth of her son Ben.

* * *

Mara Jade Skywalker was dying. The disease she had kept at bay for more than two years now, the one that had killed everyone else it had touched, was finally killing her. _Vergere's tears_. They had put the disease in remission. _And they almost killed my son_.

The tears had been the only thing keeping the disease at bay. Now, her body was failing her. Her power in the Force was not enough, and she was fading fast. All of her energy, everything she had left, she had to use. To protect her son. She was so close now, so close to saving him. She had only to hold on a little longer, and her son would live.

_Luke_.

She almost didn't realize she had called out to him. Her husband was sleeping beside her, and he awoke to her weak touch in the Force. She reached out for him, touching him on the arm, trying to speak. But she was too weak. The words didn't come.

She could see Luke respond. Their bond in the Force had always been strong. It was tenuous now, fleeting, fading quickly. She understood his words, but did not hear them. _I love you. Don't die_. She knew Luke would not accept the inevitability of the moment, that he _could_ not accept losing her. He would do everything in his power to save her. Her husband was strong in the Force. But she feared he was not strong enough.

She knew in her heart there was only one thing he could do for her now. _The baby_. Their son _must_ live. Everything else was secondary. Her life, Luke's happiness, none of that mattered without their son. Mara had never wanted children, never even considered the idea, before Luke. Now, she wanted nothing else. She would die, but her son would live.

She felt Luke touch her arm, and called out to him, with all the Force she could spare. _Help me, Luke. We have to do it now_. She could tell he didn't understand.

Her disease had ravaged her body. The spores destroyed cells wherever they spread, and her body itself was finishing the job. Her immune system was fighting, and her strength and Vergere's tears had kept it ahead of the disease. Now her immune system was killing her. Already massive inflammation had shut down her kidneys, and her liver as well. Her lungs were failing, filled with mucus, and she could barely breath. Now she felt the disease, and her body's desperate defenses, attacking her heart. Her pulse slowed nearly to nothing, and she knew it was time.

Darkness reached out to take her, but it was not death. She felt Luke, as powerful as he had ever been, blindly attacking the disease. His rage and fear were palpable, coming through even in her death throes. She felt him failing. The assault of the dark side caused blind destruction, but through his rage he could not attack the disease, could not even feel it.

_No, Luke, not this way_. Every bit of strength she had left she put behind those words. Her agony, and his terror, threatened to drown them out, but she could feel his understanding. He understood the words, anyway, if not their meaning. His rage gave way to confusion, and Mara fell into despair. _Please, Luke. Help him_.

He didn't hear. She could sense his anguish, his uncertainty. He was failing, and it was devastating him. She had to make him understand. Luke could lose himself forever, when she died, if their son did not live. His terror flowed through the Force, pushing past her pain and suffering, and she knew he would fail.

Mara pulled back into herself, throwing every last ounce of strength around their child. As her body failed, she wrapped what was left of her essence around her son, feeling his light and his strength in the Force touch back. She felt a warmth, and a love, that she had only felt before from Luke. Her son, whom she would never meet, loved her. Mara faded away.

A tiny voice in the back of her mind brought her back, just barely. The words were incomprehensible, the touch through the Force unrecognizable. At first. Then the voice grew louder, and the warmth and the comfort of the calm voice came through clearly. Mara felt incredible love, and knew it was Luke. She reached out in the Force, tentatively, asking if it was her husband, and got his confirmation.

She could feel his plea. _Let me in_. There was nothing left of her, nothing of her for him to enter, and she tried to tell him. Mara tried to say goodbye to the love of her life. But she felt his insistence, and she felt the difference. His presence in the Force was probing, not at her, but at their son. Her remaining barriers there were about to fail, but they were still holding. She couldn't let them drop.

She could feel his love, and his strength in the Force. He pleaded with her to drop her protective cocoon around their child, begging her to accept his help. She finally acceded.

She felt the warmth in her womb as Luke's power entered her. She reached out for her husband and her child. She felt the spirit she had carried within her wake, felt the happiness as the life within her responded to the man who had brought that life forth. She heard the joyful laughter of her unborn child, felt his amazement as his spirit merged first with his father, then with his desperately weak mother.

She felt her own joy as her spirit intertwined with those of her family. The last line of the Jedi mantra ran through her mind repeatedly. _There is no death, there is the Force_. She started to fade away.

She had heard that, just before the moment of death, one's life would flash before one's eyes. Mara found this to be true, and yet it was not entirely so. Mara had lived two lives, distinct, and as different as two lives could possibly be. One life before she found Luke, and one life after. As she faded, images of her life flashed before her eyes, but she saw only Luke. Nothing of her life before him, that life full of darkness and evil, was to be found. Luke had ripped her old life apart, torn it utterly asunder, had destroyed the Mara that had come before. The Mara that was bitter, alone, full of despair.

Mara saw her first meeting with Luke. She saw the long walk on Wayland. She saw her training at the Jedi Academy. Her brief reunions with Luke after that. Reunions that were too short, and too widely-spaced.

Mara saw Nirauan, saw herself in Luke's arms as her ship and her freedom were ripped from her. She remembered as she discovered at that moment her deep love for the man she had known for many years, her desperate yearning to be with him. She saw their battle in the Chiss stronghold, and felt her shock and her glee as she discovered just how desperately Luke loved her. She saw their first kiss shortly after.

She saw their first time together in deepest intimacy, and the countless times since. She saw their wedding, their honeymoon, other times spent together in solitude and in love. She saw her descent into sickness, and felt the love and worry Luke had for her, and the deep pride and admiration he felt at her strength.

She saw the conception of their son, and felt the incredible joy as well as the unspoken fears both held as they discovered together the new life growing in her. She saw the past few months, full of wonder and of danger, as she carried her child within her.

All of this flashed before Mara's eyes in an instant. All the important parts of her life, and nothing more. She knew death was approaching, and she reached out to greet it.

But there was not death. There was only the Force.

There was an explosion of white light, overpowering her, as she was overwhelmed by the Force. Her husband was powerful in the Force, far more powerful than any living Jedi, perhaps even more powerful than any who had ever lived. The power she felt was beyond even him. It was pure Force, born out of indescribable love, untainted light energy that washed over her in wave after wave of strength beyond comprehension.

It was the power of three beings. Far stronger together than separately, she felt the combined strength of her husband and her unborn child reach out, grasping her very essence and wrenching aside the devastation of her disease. She felt her own strength in the Force meet theirs, and discovered in herself far more power than she had ever imagined. Luke had always claimed that the light side of the Force was more powerful than the dark side. Mara would never again believe otherwise.

Their strength came together in the Force, a family united as one. More images came to her mind. She saw herself cradling a newborn baby. She saw that baby grow up, impossibly fast. She saw Luke grow older, and she herself grow old as well. She saw a loving family, saw good times and bad. Most of all, she felt love, more love than she had ever thought possible.

The brilliant white light overwhelmed her again, and she felt herself healed. The destruction of the cells of her body, the devastation of her critical organs, all that damage repaired in an instant. Mara felt her strength return, felt her life force flow out from herself. She felt herself grow stronger than she had ever been. Her strength was buoyed by that of those who loved her. Her friends, her family, numerous beings with whom she had grown close over the years. All possible thanks to one man, whom she loved more than anything in the galaxy. Until now. Now, his place in her heart would be matched by another.

Luke Skywalker had taken away a life of nothing, and given her one of everything. He had pulled her back from the brink of death, countless times. And now, he had done so again.

Mara's eyes snapped open. She felt the bond between her and Luke, an incredible strength that was so familiar, yet now different. Shared by a third person. Part of her, and part of Luke, yet a distinct spirit unto itself. She felt Luke slip away, barely, as his mind moved toward some distant image. Then, she felt him return.

Mara greeted her husband wordlessly, stretching out to him through the Force. She felt his joy at the touch of her essence, felt him marvel at the strength that had returned to her spirit. Luke, her lover and her husband, was the only family she had ever known. Now, they reached out together to welcome another.

* * *

Long minutes later, Mara opened her eyes to discover Luke lying next to her, curled up on the mere handful of inches left on the side of her bed, his arm draped over her. She could feel him shaking, and realized her husband was quietly crying. The powerful use of the Force had exhausted Luke, and the depth of the emotional bond between the two, shared suddenly with their child, had broken through the Jedi Master's usual stoicism, reducing him to tears.

Mara realized belatedly that she too was weeping. First disease, then pregnancy had broken down her ice queen persona to an extent, but the experience she had shared with Luke and their son had washed that persona away completely, at least for a short time. She was vaguely saddened to realize that it was unlikely that she would experience such a strong connection in the Force with Luke again in this lifetime, but that was ok. Something about battle brought forth new and deeper connections with the Force. She and Luke had fought the most important battle of their lives in that room, and together with the help of their child they had utterly vanquished their foe.

The Force bond with Luke was still incredibly strong, but was diminished somewhat compared to what it had been just moments before. She also noted that the link between her and her son had gone away. She could still sense him, but his fetal mind had gone off to ponder something else, something unknown. She was vaguely aware of Cilghal's frantic testing and prodding, but ignored the intrusion of the Jedi healer. She and Luke both knew that her disease had been eradicated, and that their child was safe. Cilghal's tests would bear that out in a few minutes.

Cilghal drew a small amount of blood from a vein in Mara's arm and abruptly left the room, leaving Mara alone with Luke for the moment. She softly whispered her husband's name, probing him with the Force in an attempt to rouse him. It worked, and Luke first propped himself up on an arm, then silently slipped off the bed to sit in a chair. She reached out with her hand to grasp his.

All Luke could manage was a single word. "Mara."

She managed to smile at him, and spoke through the last of her tears. "Luke, you did it…"

He gently interrupted her. "_We_ did it, Mara. You, me, and our son."

Mara's next word surprised both of them. "Ben."

Luke looked at her with shock, and remained speechless. Mara paused to ponder the meaning of the unprompted name. She vaguely remembered a sensation of Luke's first Master during their bond, though she had never known the man who had become one with the Force years before she and Luke first met. Some quiet twinge of the Force had made that sensation stand out for her, and she realized now how perfect the name would be for their son. Honoring Luke's first Master, without giving the boy the baggage of living up to the more well-known name of Obi-Wan. Leia had inadvertently thrust a similar burden onto Anakin, and neither Luke nor Mara wanted that for their child.

Luke finally managed to respond. "Ben?"

Mara nodded. "Yes, Ben. Ben Skywalker." She suddenly smiled coyly. "After all, we can't name him after _my_ first Master." Luke winced at the off-hand remark, but Mara laughed. She was beyond regrets about her past, for the most part. Luke's love had wiped away that part of her life.

She saw Luke smile slowly, as he thought over her decision. Finally he looked up. "Ok, Ben it is. Mara, I…"

He stopped as Mara's eyes went wide. His voice gave away a hint of panic. "Mara, what is it? What's wrong?"

She squeezed his hand tightly. "Nothing is wrong, Luke. But you had better go get Cilghal. I think it's starting…"

* * *

Mara's face was red, and she was sweating profusely. For the first few hours, the pain from the contractions had been minimal. For the last twenty minutes, the intensity of the contractions had increased significantly, and now she was starting to really feel them.

As the pain of the most recent contraction passed, she craned her neck to look over at her husband. "I am _never_ going to forgive you for this, Skywalker." Luke just looked at her impassively, still holding her hand. He had heard such threats from Mara before, and had known enough women who had given birth to know that such threats were commonplace, and quickly forgotten.

Cilghal spoke up. "It won't be long now, Mara. Just a few more minutes, and you'll be ready to push."

Mara barely heard her words. The pain started up again, and Mara cried out. She saw Luke's concerned look out of the corner of her eye, and felt him finally break his impassivity, reaching out to her with the Force to ease her pain. She squeezed his hand, _hard_, and pushed back at his mental probe with her own power in the Force.

It took another few moments before she had the ability to speak to him. "Cut it out, Skywalker. None of your pain dissipation techniques. This is my birthright as a woman, and I won't let you wave your hand and take it away from me. No use of the Force to dull the pain. I want the entire experience."

Luke set his jaw, but she felt his reluctant acceptance through the Force. She cried out again, and again felt Luke reach out to her through the Force. She willed herself to push back against his intrusion again, angered at his disregard for her wishes, but stopped when she felt the difference in his touch.

This time, he was not trying to take away her pain. Instead, he was simply reaching out through the Force to feel it. He was trying to share in the experience with her, and his action touched her heart. It also annoyed her more than a little. She wanted nothing more than to be able to blame him for all of this, but his compassion and love were making that difficult. _As always_.

She managed to put on her best sarcastic face as the pain faded again. "Fine, Luke, you win. Share the experience with me. But," she added threateningly, "if I _ever_ hear you try to describe the pain of childbirth to _anyone_, you _will_ lose another limb."

Her husband actually had the nerve to laugh out loud, and she glared at him with no small amount of anger at his levity. He sobered up some as he sensed her ire, and apologized. "Sorry, Mara." His eyes twinkled, and he gave her a small smile. "I was just pleased to see that you're really ok. _That_ was the Mara Jade I fell in love with."

The affection in his voice warmed her heart, but the feeling was quickly overpowered by the pain of another contraction. She cried out again, but maintained enough awareness to be pleased with Luke's gasp of surprise, as he too shared in the sensation with her. She could feel his own mind cry out with the pain, and felt him successfully overcome the urge to dampen that pain with the Force.

Through the pain she could hear Cilghal's voice. "Mara, it's time to start pushing." She squeezed Luke's hand tighter as she prepared for the end of her pregnancy, and for the beginning of a new life.

* * *

Mara couldn't remember ever feeling weaker. Even the most difficult times during her sickness had been easier than what she had just experienced. And yet, she felt stronger than she ever had before. She felt Luke's hand reach out again to grasp hers, and she smiled as she stared down at Ben Skywalker. _Her son_. Hers and Luke's.

She had privately doubted that this day would ever come. Doubted all the way up to today, just a few short hours ago, in fact. She had spent most of her life despairing that she would ever find someone whom she could love, and doubting even more that she could find someone that could possible love her. Even after discovering her love for Luke, their separate obligations had made starting a family impossible for years. Her recent illness had not changed that, but it had happened anyway. She beamed at the happy accident lying quietly in her arms. An accident, unexpected, but something that had been desperately craved by both Mara and Luke.

She looked to her husband, the smile on his face matching hers in intensity and in love. "Luke," she whispered, "can it ever get better than tonight?"

He didn't answer. Neither of them had any idea what the future would bring. Moments of unbelievable joy and of deep sorrow were sure to follow, but Luke didn't have the necessary frame of reference to measure his current happiness, nor to compare it to what might be to come. So he didn't speak, but he felt Mara's understanding through the Force just the same. Their thoughts on the matter were identical.

She looked back at Ben, and everything else in the galaxy faded to the background. She was vaguely aware of Cilghal asking about visitors, and Luke approving the idea, provided it was only a few at a time. She had enough presence of mind to worry about how she looked, her vision of herself in the Force one of a sickly woman, gray-faced and worn to the bone, but she was too happy to object to visitors on that account alone. As Cilghal left the room, she aimed a thought at the Mon Cal healer through the Force. _Make sure Anakin's in the first group. He's been worried about me._ She wasn't sure if the message made it through.

Whether it did or not, Anakin was the first through the door, with Mirax Terrik Horn right behind him. Mara considered her nephew briefly as he came into the room. Jaina might be her apprentice, but Anakin was her favorite. She had never admitted this out loud, even to Luke, but she was sure that her husband knew her mind well enough to know her feelings. And, she suspected, although Luke hid it well, that Anakin was his favorite too. They were so much alike, Luke and Anakin. Both strong in the Force, both kind, considerate, and loving. Anakin had a bright future.

She greeted him, mostly ignoring her friend Mirax for the moment, and got the impression that Anakin was holding something inside. He did however manage to ask if all babies were as ugly as Ben looked.

_Yes,_ Mara thought_, Anakin and Luke are alike in many ways. Including the general ability to drive me crazy with stupid questions like that_. She managed not to bite his head off, and Anakin had the good sense to make up for his lapse by asking about her. She had felt his concern radiating through the Force ever since their ship landed, and she assured him she was fine. Never better.

She looked to Mirax. "I understand your husband had to babysit Anakin and Tahiri on a mission. I'm not sure I would have traded places with him today, even with everything I've been through."

Mirax laughed. "Corran said they were ok, that both of them managed to stay out of trouble. For the most part."

Curiously, Anakin blushed at this last bit. Mara couldn't read him through the Force, but something about Mirax's response embarrassed him. She promised herself to get to the bottom of _that_ later. In the unlikely event she'd ever be able to stand up again.

Anakin hugged her and Luke and left, and Mirax gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek and followed Mara's nephew out the door.

No sooner had they left then Corran and Tahiri walked through the door. _No rest for the weary_. Corran was Mara's best friend among the Jedi, save those she was related to by marriage, and she was fond of Tahiri too, due to the girl's close friendship with Anakin. Both could be quite tiring, however. Corran due to his predilection for teasing and sarcasm, and Tahiri due to her seeming inability to ever close her mouth.

Corran smiled at Mara, but as usual, Tahiri got the first words out. "Aunt Mara, I'm so happy to see that you're ok." Mara noticed Luke blink at this. Mara was of course not Tahiri's aunt, but Tahiri had taken to calling her that, every once in a great while, due no doubt to Anakin's influence. She realized with amusement that Luke had probably never heard Tahiri call her that. _I guess there are a few things about me that can still surprise him. Good._

More words were spewing forth from Tahiri's mouth. "Anakin was so worried about you. All he could think about on the way home was how you were doing. He barely even talked to me, although that's not so unusual. Your son is beautiful. What's his name?..."

She took a short breath, clearly ready to continue, and Luke cut her off with a laugh. "Slow down, Tahiri, one thing at a time."

Mara gave the girl a gentle smile. "You're far kinder than Anakin. He called him 'ugly'. This is Ben. Ben Skywalker."

Tahiri gaped. "Anakin called him ugly? I'm going to have a talk with that boy. I can't believe he did that, that's _so_ insensitive. Anakin's not usually like that, usually he's…"

Corran put a hand on Tahiri's shoulder, and blessedly the girl trailed off to silence. Mara noticed Luke's amused smile, but was so thankful for the moment of peace that she had no choice but to give Corran a glance of gratitude. She noted a small nod in return.

Corran spoke up for the first time. "Congratulations, you two." He left it at that, clearly understanding Mara's desire to get these visits over with as quickly as possible. Mirax had no doubt been the same way after their children had been born.

Luke smiled at the younger man. "Thank you, Corran. And thank you for watching out for Anakin and Tahiri. Those two can get into all kinds of situations if you don't keep watch on them constantly."

Corran laughed. "I noticed." He winked at Tahiri. "I only had them run off on me once, and I had to leave them in a locker for a short time to keep them from suffocating, but I'm sure Tahiri kept Anakin entertained."

Mara expected another deluge of words from Tahiri, but instead the girl was silent. And blushing. _Interesting_.

Corran managed to drag Tahiri out of the room before the girl could burst forth with more excited chatter. Mara looked over at Luke with a vaguely pained expression.

"I'm not sure how much more of this I'm going to be able to take."

Luke chuckled softly. "I understand. Tahiri has always been a bit…" He paused, clearly searching for the right word. After a moment he came up with "…_enthusiastic_." That was _not_ the word Mara would have chosen, and she told him as much.

"I was thinking more _annoying_."

Luke smiled gently at her. "Perhaps so. Regardless, you deserve some rest. I will go out and talk to everyone else. I'm sure they can wait a few more hours to see the baby."

He turned to leave, but Mara stopped him. "Luke, if you get a chance, find out what happened between Anakin and Tahiri on their trip with Corran."

Luke turned back with a twinkle in his eye. "You noticed, did you? I can ask Anakin, but I'm not sure he'll want to tell me. He might be more willing to talk to you about it."

Mara considered this. She and Anakin had become very close, but she _hated_ talking about such things with others.

Luke continued. "I always expected that something would develop between those two someday. They've been as close as anyone since they met, and I think she might end up a Solo someday."

Mara shuddered a bit at that. Luke saw this, and clearly caught a bit of her feeling on the matter through the Force. Mara liked Tahiri, and would welcome her into the family with open arms, but she did not relish the thought of having to deal with Tahiri's exuberance more often than she already did.

Luke's eyes gleamed as he responded to Mara's nonverbal reaction. "Look on the bright side, Mara…"

She tiredly raised an eyebrow at her husband.

He chuckled as he continued. "If they get married someday, you'll legitimately be Tahiri's 'Aunt Mara'. Now, my dear, get some rest."

Still laughing quietly to himself, he turned to leave the room.

Mara looked around the room for something to throw at the back of her husband's head. Unfortunately, the only thing within her immediate reach was Ben. Sighing with vexation, she congratulated herself for not _seriously_ considering that option.


	9. Jade Dilemma

_**JADE DILEMMA**_

**27 ABY - **During _New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream_

Mara has to decide whether to accompany Luke to Coruscant or stay behind with Ben.

* * *

Mara was seething as she returned to the quarters she shared with Luke. She looked sadly for a moment at the face of her sleeping son. _Of all the times for Luke to rush off to play the hero again, it has to be _now. Ben was so small, so vulnerable, so in need of the presence and comfort of his parents, and Luke was abandoning him to rush off to Coruscant to face some nameless threat. And abandoning her, at the same time. There were myriad threats out there, but at some point they had to concentrate on keeping their family together. Luke would eventually have to accept that, if his arrogance didn't get him killed first.

_He's falling back into his old patterns_. Luke had changed since they'd married, nearly eight years prior. Before that he had been almost vain, always worried about his image and the way others perceived him and his relationship with the Force. The previous few years had been better, even with the ever-growing threat of the Yuuzhan Vong. Luke had stopped worrying so much about what others thought, had instead started listening to the Force for guidance. _And, almost as importantly, he finally started taking _my _advice_.

But here they were again, disagreeing on a course of action, and Luke had shown no concern for her point of view. _Some nameless threat_, she thought again, _some unknown darkness, and he's rushing off to face it with no regard for what happens to me and Ben if he doesn't come back_. She could tell herself that she could go on without Luke if something happened, but just thinking those thoughts drew her to the brink of despair.

Luke had faced darkness so many times before, and it seemed like each time, he needed the help of someone else to keep from being utterly destroyed. Mara had saved him from C'baoth, had helped save him from Exar Kun _and_ from Kueller. Leia had pulled him back from his descent to darkness at the hands of the Emperor reborn, and only the love of his father had saved him during his meeting with the original Palpatine. _Now, who will he have to help him? Some Intelligence operatives? Could that possibly be enough?_

_Why can't he send someone else? Kyp Durron, or Corran?_ Intellectually she might have admitted that this wish was much more selfish than practical, especially in Corran's case, as he had two small children of his own. But her emotions occasionally trumped logic, and this seemed to be a common occurrence when it came to her son.

Mara was honest enough to admit to herself that Luke was the best-equipped Jedi to handle whatever darkness was stirring on Coruscant. _He is so strong in the Force, almost impossibly so, and he has more experience with fighting the dark side than all the rest of the Jedi put together._ She had trusted him to fight against the Yuuzhan Vong, too, and he had come back from every one of those encounters relatively unharmed. But a mission to the new capital world of the Vong was different.

She looked again at her son, sleeping peacefully in her arms, blissfully unaware of the turmoil of her thoughts. She remembered Luke's advice, only a brief time ago. With a heavy heart she stretched out to the Force, opening herself up, trying to get a sense of what course of action she should pursue. But no insight came.

She sighed softly. The Force would give her nothing. Either it had no insight to give, or she was not calm enough or strong enough to sense whatever insight it might have. She would have to decide on her own. Allow Luke to go, and risk losing him forever. Alternately, attempt to convince him to stay, and failing that, attempt to force him to do so. She knew she would not be able to talk him out of his plans, and she knew she was unlikely to be able to force him to stay. Knowing this did not help, but instead frustrated her all the more.

As she looked again at Ben, she suddenly found herself considering a third option. _Leave Ben with Leia and Han, and go with Luke to Coruscant_. She had dismissed this option when Luke brought it up, convinced that her son needed her too much to abandon him in that way. After all, both she and Luke could be killed on such a dangerous mission, leaving Ben with no one.

Both she and Luke had grown up without true parents, and that experience had hurt them both deeply. She did not want that for her son, and knew that Luke did not want that for Ben either. For both, this wish ran deeper than a mere desire for self-preservation.

And yet, she was uncomfortable with the path upon which this anxiety was leading her. _What am I supposed to do, sit out the war and spend every minute watching over Ben, and Ben only? _She had never wanted to be responsible to the entire galaxy, yet she felt this responsibility all the more as they years passed.

_What happens the next time Luke needs to go off on a mission? Do we repeat this fight each and every time he takes it upon himself to do something dangerous? Even if we win this war, when does it stop? Will there_ _ever be a time when Luke can stop being a Jedi and just be a father? Will there ever be a time when _I_ can stop being a Jedi and just be Ben's mother?_

Mara suddenly found herself wondering if Luke's sense of duty to the greater galaxy might not also be the best way to protect their son. _If we don't take the fight to the Yuuzhan Vong, how long will it be before they come for Ben?_ _Should I make a stand only then, when my son is in reach of the hands of the enemy, or do we make a stand _now_, I and Luke together? Is an active defense better than a passive one? If Ben is in immediate danger, haven't I already failed him?_

She was still at times uncomfortable with the responsibilities of being a Jedi. She had been able to convince herself to undertake those responsibilities to fight to make the galaxy a safer place, a more peaceful place that she and Luke could enjoy together, and a place in which they could someday raise a family. Now the growing malevolence of the Vong threatened everything she had worked towards in the past eight years.

_Then I keep fighting. Not for the galaxy. Just for Luke, and for Ben. For Han and Leia and Jaina, and for Corran and Mirax and their kids, and Wedge and Iella and _their_ kids. For the Jedi, and for my friends_. It was easier to think of it that way, breaking down her responsibilities to their barest essential parts.

Luke would continue to fight for the galaxy. Mara would fight beside him, keeping him safe to continue that fight. She would do what she had always done best. She would protect the man that she loved more than anything else in the world, and with her help he would in turn make the galaxy safer for the one person whose place in her heart matched Luke's. Her son.

Mara felt Ben stir in her arms, and her son gently cooed as he smiled up at his mother. She felt a brief glimmer of joy from her son through the Force as his mind gently touched hers. She marveled to herself at the ability of her son to wake up with a smile on his face, a trick that most humans seemed incapable of performing starting somewhere around adolescence.

She left their quarters as she gently rocked her son, humming quietly as Ben started to fidget and grab at her red-gold hair. She felt a pang of sadness as she walked, looking at him. _I'm going to go, and I'm going to leave you behind. But only for a while. Your father and I have something important to do, but we _will _come back to you. I promise_.


	10. Jade Attachment

_**JADE ATTACHMENT**_

**23 ABY **- Some time after _Survivor's Quest_

Luke wrestles with the issue of Jedi marriage.

* * *

He had been pacing for hours.

Mara was gone again, off on some mission with Mirax, and Luke found himself lonely.

This was not particularly a common occurrence. Luke had not often felt so lonely, not in the nearly four years since he married Mara on Coruscant. Granted, she was gone often, perhaps even more than she was here on Yavin IV. Luke always felt an emptiness in his life when Mara was away, but this time it was particularly acute.

Luke reflected that, maybe, he was feeling this way because, for the first time in months, Mara was off somewhere without him. He had made the choice, months before, to accompany her on a rather dangerous mission to sever ties between Talon Karrde's organization and a rather irritable smuggler.

That short trip had turned into a rather long one, as they eventually made their way into Chiss space to search the recently-discovered remains of the Outbound Flight project. It had been a perilous journey, yes, but they had come through it, as they always did. And more importantly, husband and wife had been able to spend some extended time together. Mara often traveled, and until recently, Luke often stayed behind. He had gotten a taste, though, of what life would be like without his unending obligation to the Jedi Academy. He found, now, that that one taste was simply not enough.

The Academy was transitioning to a pre-Jedi school, for training of younglings just starting out in their exploration of their Force powers. This transition was not complete, however, and Luke was still tasked with the duty of helping with that transition. Not for the first time in his life, he longed to be elsewhere.

So Luke found himself pacing to corridors of the Great Temple. His concern would have been palpable, were someone around to notice. His concern was not for Mara's safety. At least not mostly. Mara was as capable as anyone he had ever met, and he trusted that she would return to him in one piece at the end of her mission.

Instead, Luke wrestled with another concern. Even after their marriage, he and Mara had each had separate worries about their relationship. His wife, so used to depending only on herself, had had difficulty in determining her own role in the galaxy. For Luke it was simple. A Jedi Knight kept the peace, protected the weak and the innocent, and fought the dark side. This had been his life, and he knew his destiny would keep him on this path forever.

For Mara it had not been so simple. Always uncomfortable with the notion of sacrificing her freedom for responsibility to trillions, her place in the Jedi Order had been uncertain. She had been drawn to the Empire of the Hand, the Thrawn-created organization offering some of the stability and purpose she had missed since the fall of the Galactic Empire.

And yet she had faced that challenge to her loyalty to Luke's order, if not to Luke himself, and she had stood her ground. She had chosen the life of the Jedi, and Luke quietly celebrated her new sense of purpose in the galaxy. The current class of Jedi trainees would, in the short years to come, begin to choose Masters to oversee their training on an individual basis. And, Luke knew, Mara would be there to help.

Luke, though, still wrestled with his own private demon. One brief lesson, delivered years ago by Master Yoda, still haunted him. _Prohibit attachments, the Jedi do._ Or did, anyway, before they were wiped out by Luke's father, the man who became Darth Vader. For Yoda, it had been simple. Attachments lead to the dark side. Fear of loss was a powerful motivator, and could lead a Jedi down the wrong path.

Luke did not know what had led his father to the dark side. That information had died with Palpatine, most likely. Luke did know that he himself existed, as did his sister Leia. He also knew that Darth Vader had once been Anakin Skywalker, his father. Finally, he knew he had a mother, although he did not know what had happened to her. It was easy for Luke to imagine, then, that his father's attachment to his mother may have played a role, whether major or minor, in Anakin's fall.

As Luke wandered aimlessly into the Great Hall, a quiet voice from behind startled him into focus.

"Your emotions are a raging torrent, young Master Skywalker, and you seem ill at ease. Has something gone wrong?"

It took Luke a moment to locate the speaker. Finally, he noticed the small Kushiban in the corner of the hall.

"Master Ikrit, I'm sorry to have disturbed you. I didn't expect anyone to be in here."

Luke watched as the small Master's ears perked up, and Ikrit raised his white head to look with interest at the human Jedi Master.

"You did not disturb me, Master Skywalker. Please, join me for a moment. You seem preoccupied with something, and I have found that such preoccupations are most easily dismissed when they have been discussed."

Luke smiled sadly, and shook his head. "Thank you, Ikrit, but I'm not sure you can help me."

With that he began to turn to leave. The Kushiban's ears drooped, and his fur took on a light blue color. The voice from the ancient Jedi Master was sad, and it stopped Luke in his tracks. "Luke, such distractions can be harmful to a Jedi Master. I may look like a child's pet, but wisdom comes not from size or shape, but from age and life experience."

Luke turned to look into Ikrit's eyes, which turned an icy shade of blue, and smiled as he answered. "A lesson I learned long ago, Ikrit. You forget that we studied under the same Master."

Ikrit's face took on the Kushiban approximation of a smile as his ears perked back up. "Perhaps you have learned the lesson, Master Skywalker, although you seem to have failed to take it to heart. Please, Luke, sit, and tell me what is troubling you."

Luke sighed as he sat down. He took a deep breath before starting. "I suppose, if there is anyone who can give me some insight, it might be you. I've been wrestling with the issue of Jedi marriage. It seems so ridiculous to me now, when I and half the other Masters are already married or in serious relationships, but Yoda told me years ago of the Jedi prohibition against attachments, and it's been weighing on me recently."

Ikrit's lagomorph face was rather incapable of frowning, but Luke imagined that Ikrit was doing so anyway. The diminutive Jedi Master took a moment before responding.

"I see." He paused again. "I must admit that I found many of the new Order's policies to be rather surprising, when your nephew reawakened me."

Luke nodded slowly. "Yoda once told me that attachment leads to jealousy, and that jealously leads to the dark side. Marriage seems to me to be the greatest form of attachment, and that is why the old Order banned it."

Luke was surprised by Ikrit's reaction, the Kushiban form of a chuckle. "I think perhaps you are making incorrect assumptions, Luke. Or, at least, operating under incomplete information."

Luke looked at him quizzically, so Ikrit continued.

"First of all, not all marriages were banned under Jedi policy. Most Jedi were prohibited from marrying, yes, but not all. The Jedi Order was somewhat more practical than you give it credit for, Luke. For example, some beings in the Order came from endangered species. These Jedi were allowed to take mates, to play their part in the propagation of their species. Granted, this did not apply to humans, nor to most humanoids. Other Jedi came from cultures whose marriage customs were such that they were allowed to circumvent the Jedi Order's policies, for a number of different reasons."

Luke frowned slightly. "I didn't know that."

Ikrit's fur changed hue, to a slight shade of blue that, in Luke's mind, suggested some empathy, and a little sadness, on the part of the ancient Jedi Master.

"Nor indeed did you have any reason to, Master Skywalker. As I understand it, your training was necessarily abbreviated. Much of the history of the Jedi Order was likely omitted to give you more time to focus on more… _practical_ matters."

Luke reflected on this for a moment, then nodded. "That is true."

Ikrit continued. "Regardless, Luke, marriage is not the greatest form of attachment by any definition. It may be argued that _love_ is, perhaps. And, it is my experience that love and marriage are interrelated in fewer instances than you might expect."

Luke sighed a bit. "Fine, Ikrit, but let's not quibble over technicalities. _I _love Mara, so your distinction is moot in my case. That seems to be the same for Tionne and Kam, not to mention Corran and Mirax."

Ikrit's fur took on a darker blue as he spoke again, and his ears drooped slightly. "If we consider only love as an emotion, and ignore the symbolic aspects of relationships, then it will be easier for us to reach a proper conclusion. Now, your concerns over attachments, please."

Luke was getting slightly impatient with the Kushiban, but he managed to respond calmly nevertheless. "You are familiar with some of my history, right?"

Ikrit's ears perked up slightly. "Yes, I have had much time to read the recent history of the Jedi, now that Anakin has returned home to his parents."

"Then you are aware of some of my more important… _failings_. Attachments have led me to do foolish things in the past. I rushed off to help my friends on Bespin and abandoned my training. Later I fell to the dark side and joined the cloned Emperor, thinking I could save the galaxy by abandoning my principles. Even later I abandoned the Jedi and tried to become a hermit, only to be manipulated into wandering around the galaxy in a vain attempt to find my mother."

Ikrit responded. "Hmm, yes, all these things I know of. And many more unfortunate choices, on your path to where you are today?"

Luke nodded. "Yes, for a long time I didn't know what I was doing with my life, or where I was going."

Ikrit made his approximation of a chuckle again. "And why should you? As you yourself have stated, Yoda gave you only that training necessary to become a Jedi Knight. The tools to become a Jedi Master he trusted you to develop on your own. This is a process that many Jedi go through. All make mistakes along the way. Some fall to the dark side, as you did. Fewer come back to the light. Those that return do so often only moments before their death, as your father did. Those that are able to return, and yet survive, become the greatest of Jedi."

Luke frowned again. "But in failing as I have, I've been directly or indirectly responsible for the death of billions. Is that worth the price of one man's journey towards illumination? And what of the other Jedi? Even if _my _attachments are not sufficient to lead me to permanent darkness, what about them?"

"Each Jedi must face his or her own trials, Luke. It is up to the Masters of the Order only to prepare them as best they can to face those trials."

Luke's confusion showed on his face. "Then why the rules about attachment in the old Order?"

Ikrit's fur reddened slightly, as if the he were feeling some degree of anger or anxiety. "Such rules did not exist back into perpetuity. Nor, indeed, were infants taken from their homes and raised by the Order for the entire history of the Jedi. Organizations, as they expand and age, tend to turn to dogma as a way of simplifying complex ideas for absorption by diverse beings."

Luke's brow furled. "I'm not sure I understand."

"The Jedi Order often enacted rules which were meant to do nothing but prohibit a potential decision which could lead a student to the dark side. Because attachment can lead to jealousy, and jealousy to the dark side, attachment was forbidden, despite the fact that many Jedi could have and would have been able to form romantic attachments without any risk of falling."

Luke's reaction was one of shock. "But that's inane."

Ikrit chuckled again. "Many such policies are, when policymakers forget that shades of gray are as much a part of life as black and white. Rules which apply a single standard to a diverse group are often inane, but are enacted to distill a complex issue down to its simplest form. Thus, it limits the ability of a small group of individuals to make a potentially bad decision at the expense of a much larger group of individuals to which the freedom to make such a decision could be entrusted."

Luke frowned yet again. "You sound like you blame Yoda for this."

Ikrit's fur reverted to a shade of light blue, and matted slightly. "It was in many ways Yoda's doing, as he was Grand Master of the Order. Yoda was the greatest of all Jedi Masters in living memory, and I assure you he understood this issue much better than I. Yet the Master of the Order is often tasked with making decisions which have wide-reaching consequences, as you are in this instance. Not all will agree with your decisions, and you may occasionally make incorrect ones, as you have in the past, but that does not absolve you from the duty of making those decisions."

"This is all enlightening, Ikrit, but it does not seem to give me any idea where to actually go with this issue."

"Indeed, Luke, because you're asking a philosophical question, rather than a practical one. But hold that thought for a moment. What instruction did Yoda give you during your training that might help with this decision?"

Luke's eyes narrowed slightly as he thought about it. "None, really, except to relate the Jedi Order's prohibition against attachments."

Ikrit gave off an air of disappointment. "Then you have not considered the implications of his other teachings, Luke. For example, you felt a deep attachment to your father, despite his existence as a Sith Lord. What instructions did Yoda give you regarding your father?"

Luke sighed. "That I would have to kill him."

Ikrit's ears fell. "Is that what he told you?"

"No, he told me I had to confront Vader. But his meaning was clear."

Ikrit's coat of fur took on a bluer hue as he sadly responded. "Yoda was a masterful teacher, Luke. The instructions he gave you were necessarily vague, as a great teacher will _always_ do with a gifted student. Do you know why this is?"

Luke shook his head. "No."

Ikrit's fur lightened substantially. "This is something you should consider carefully. Yoda may indeed have intended for you to kill Darth Vader. However, he gave you instructions only to confront him. An open-ended instruction allows for interpretation by the student. In this case, you chose to respond to your father with love, instead of with destruction. In doing so, you redeemed Anakin Skywalker, and destroyed Palpatine. Gifted students may often find solutions that are beyond the ability of their teacher to conceive. A master teacher takes such things into account when he instructs his pupil."

Luke was silent for long minutes, as he mulled over Ikrit's lesson. Finally, he spoke again. "We're still speaking only philosophically."

Ikrit's ears perked up, and his mouth took on an approximation of a smile. "Good, then let us speak practically. Should you choose to continue to allow Jedi to form attachments, what are the implications?"

Luke took a moment before speaking. "Jedi who take a mate can produce Force-sensitive offspring, thereby expanding the Order. Young trainees are allowed to know their families, which can lead to relationships with parents, siblings, and relatives. On the other hand, such attachments may lead some Jedi to fall to the dark side."

"Indeed, Luke, that _will _happen. However, to deny Jedi their natural inclination to form attachments, and to love, can also lead some Jedi to fall. The ability to love and to be loved is a hallmark of sentience, and to give up that ability is to become something less than fully sentient. You are familiar with the history of Count Dooku, and his fall during the Clone Wars?"

Luke nodded, and Ikrit continued. "Dooku left the Jedi Order because he disagreed with many of the issues we've discussed tonight. He eventually fell to the dark side and was a leader in one of the most devastating wars in the known history of this galaxy. Such an outcome may have been avoided were he given the freedom to make certain decisions for himself."

Ikrit continued. "Indeed, even many Jedi who did not fall were prone to destructive behavior. Jedi were not allowed to form attachments, but were allowed sexual and other emotional outlets as necessary. Such rules invariably led some Jedi to make rather poor choices. This has consequences not only for the Jedi himself or herself, but also for those beings who entered into doomed relationships with those Jedi. In some ways, the old Order was unconcerned with the impact such policies had on non-Jedi."

"I didn't know that."

Ikrit radiated amusement. "Nor should you have. The historians of the Jedi Order, for reasons you might imagine, tended to ignore or gloss over such incidents."

Ikrit turned reflective for a moment. "Perhaps we've moved back into philosophy yet again. Here is another practical consideration. What would be the implications of changing the current policy? If you were to ban attachments as the old Order did, where would that leave _you_, or your sister, or any of the others among us who have already formed such attachments?"

This stopped Luke short. He had considered this question before, many times. The problem was, he did not have a satisfactory answer.

When Luke didn't respond, Ikrit continued. "You could of course make the rule apply only to those Jedi who are not already in a committed relationship. But then, what of those Jedi who are in relationships that may become committed in the future, but who are not at that stage yet? And what of Jedi who are too young to be in such a relationship, but may have done so in the future? There are already young Jedi who have developed friendships that may, someday, lead to romance. The distinction between friendship and love is often a blurry one."

Luke suspected Ikrit was speaking of Anakin and Tahiri, though this was the last thing he wanted to think about right now.

Ikrit continued. "You could also make it apply retroactively to all Jedi. Then those Jedi, yourself included, who are in relationships would have to make a choice either to sever their attachments or to leave the Jedi Order. I suspect that this is somewhat less likely."

Luke only nodded.

Ikrit did not speak, so Luke asked the next question. "This is all very helpful, but I'm still not any closer to a good answer. What would _you_ do, in my place?"

Ikrit again let out his unique chuckle. "I have my own opinion on what is the correct course of action, yes. However, I would prefer it if you came to this decision yourself. Even the greatest Jedi Masters still need instruction at times, and it is a foolish teacher who gives his student the answer without allowing that student to work through the problem to the extent of his ability."

Luke frowned. "I appreciate that, Master Ikrit, but I've worked through this in every way possible, and I'm still no closer to the answer."

Ikrit seemed disappointed. "Perhaps, Luke, but I doubt that very much. We may have examined most of the practical questions, and many of the philosophical ones. So let us speak hypothetically. Without your attachments, where would you be now?"

Luke did not answer for a long time. Many of his life events ran through his head, one after another. Finally, he responded.

"I suppose I'd be dead. If not dead, I'd be a Dark Lord of the Sith."

Ikrit's ears perked up. "Indeed?"

Luke nodded. "Without Ben, I would still be on Tatooine, or I would have died on the Death Star. Without Biggs and Wedge, I would have died in the Death Star's trench. Without Han, I would have died on Hoth. Without my father, I would have died by Palpatine's hand. Without Leia, I never would have been redeemed from the side of the Emperor reborn. Without Leia and the kids, and my students, I would dead or still unconscious at the hands of Exar Kun. There are many other examples I could give you."

"And Mara?"

Luke felt a single tear roll down his cheek. "Without her, I would have died a dozen times over. On Myrkr, or on Wayland. On Almania, or at Centerpoint. Here on Yavin IV several times. And even if I hadn't died, I might have lost myself forever."

"In what way?"

Luke sighed. "My goals were always clear to me, after Endor. I was to re-establish the Jedi Order, to train the next generation. The path I had to take to reach those goals wasn't that simple, as you know. I made a lot of mistakes. I was aimless for many years, and although I knew something was missing, I wasn't sure what. And yet Mara was always there for me, in a way that no one save perhaps Leia and Han had ever been.

"It still almost wasn't enough. I had lost nearly everyone that I was ever close to, and I almost lost Mara, too, until I made a decision to trust in the Force, to go off after her instead of staying and trying to help Han and Leia work out the Caamas situation a few years back. In the end, she was the one who finally taught me to trust fully in the Force. Ben and Yoda both tried, as did many others, but I never really understood that lesson until Mara.

"We both found something we needed in each other. I found a deeper understanding of the Force. She found someone to trust in other than herself, and discovered her capacity to love and to be loved. I imagine neither of us would be where we are today without the other."

Ikrit did not directly respond, but instead asked another question. "And what of the rest of your loved ones? Without their attachments to you, where would _they_ be?"

This stopped Luke short again. He looked away for a long moment before responding. Finally, he came up with an answer. "I suppose they'd all be dead, too. Leia on the Death Star. Han, probably dead by a bounty hunter, or he'd still be in carbonite in Jabba's Palace. Their kids wouldn't exist. My father would have remained on the dark side, and perhaps died that way."

Ikrit simply stared at him. "Perhaps that's your answer, then…"

Luke still had an argument. "But there might be others who would still be alive. Gantoris, Dorsk 81, Biggs, Dak, Gaeriel. How many others have died because of me? How can I balance the good with the bad?"

Ikrit again radiated some sadness, and perhaps, Luke thought, a hint of frustration. "All beings die, Luke, as you well know, and for many reasons. There is only death because there is life; likewise, there is only dark because there is light. Those you love _will_ die, whether you love them or not, and whether you feel attachment to them or not. You indeed may either slow or hasten that process, but you can no more prevent the eventual death of those you love than you can destroy the dark side of the Force. As long as there is the light side, there will be the dark side. Similarly, as long as one lives, one must eventually die."

Luke shook his head. "But how do I keep my attachments to others from harming them…?"

Ikrit cut him off, probably the first time he had ever done this when speaking to Luke. "The balance between harm and good is always fluctuating, Luke, and no being is fully the master of his or her own fate. Nor is he the master of another's fate. As long as there is free will, others will make decisions that will affect, positively or negatively, those you love. You yourself will also make such decisions, knowingly or otherwise. Your duty is only to choose whether you will accept attachments, and the consequences thereof, or whether you will choose detachment, and the consequences of that choice."

Luke narrowed his eyes. "And what was your choice, if you are willing to tell me?"

Ikrit chuckled again. "A direct answer will do you no good, but I will tell you how I made my choice."

Luke sighed, but nodded.

"I recall the teachings of Yoda, one of the first lessons when I was a youngling. Attachments lead to jealousy. Jealousy leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate, to the dark side."

Luke nodded again. "He taught me a similar lesson."

Ikrit continued. "As I reached my status as a Master, I discovered for myself the rest of the lesson, as I imagine many Masters before me had. This is the same issue we have discussed. _Sentience_ leads to love. _Love_ leads to attachment. _Attachment_ leads to jealousy, and so on."

Ikrit paused, and his blue eyes, reflecting Luke's own, bore down on the human Jedi Master until Luke could barely stand it.

Finally, Ikrit spoke again. "It is up to each individual, then, to determine where he or she draws the line. The Jedi Order instructed us to draw that line between love and attachment. Each Jedi, though, must one day choose where his or her particular line will be drawn. Do you draw the line after sentience, and fail to love? Do you draw it after love, and reject attachments, as the Order instructed? Do you draw it after attachments, and reject jealousy?"

Ikrit paused again, then spoke one final time. "At each step, the line is harder to draw, is less easy to define. The difference between attachment and jealousy is much less easily defined than between love and attachment. The distinction between hate and the dark side is nearly impossible to draw. It takes great strength of character, and a deep trust in the Force, to draw one's own line and to hold it steady. Many fail to do so, some irrevocably. But each being must draw his or her own line, Jedi or not.

"You cannot choose where any other draws his or her line. You can only guide them on their path to this choice. You can choose to do so as the Jedi of the old Order did, and tell them where they _should_ draw the line. This is still only guidance. Or, you can choose to help teach them _how _to draw their own line. Regardless, some will make the wrong choice, and will fall. Others may sometimes falter, as you have, but may be redeemed by their own strength or with the help of others.

"In the end, your choices are simple, yet more complex than for others. As with all other beings, you must draw your own line and hold it, as I did centuries ago. You, Master Skywalker, as head of the Order, have an additional burden. You must choose how others will be _prepared_ to draw their own line. Do you _tell_ them, as the Jedi of old, or do you _show _them?"

And in that moment, Luke finally found his answer.

* * *

_Some time later..._

Jedi Master Luke Skywalker paused as he prepared to enter his private office on Yavin IV. Luke had been away on a short trip to Coruscant, for consultation with his sister Leia on a diplomatic issue, and he had landed on the moon housing the Jedi Academy only minutes ago.

He smiled as his mind touched the unexpected presence in his office. Luke opened the door.

"Hi Mara. I'm back."

Mara Jade Skywalker, Luke's wife of more than four years, was already looking up as he spoke. Luke could see a sparkle in her emerald green eyes, and felt a wave of love wash over him as Mara's mind touched his in the Force. Mara had been away when Luke left, flitting around the galaxy with Mirax Terrik Horn, no doubt getting into trouble, and Luke had not expected to see his wife for another week at best.

"Hey, Luke. Sorry to take over your office. I'm working on some requisitions, and Mirax is supposed to pick them up tomorrow morning on her way through the system."

Luke smiled at her. "Anything important?"

Mara shook her head lightly, in the negative. "Just a few items that the Academy needs, some things we've had trouble locating. Tionne asked for my help, and I figured if anyone could track them down, it would be Mirax. Nothing of any great interest." Tionne Solusar was one of the instructors at the Academy, and was in charge of some materiel requisitions for non-essential items.

Luke nodded. "Ok. Anyway, speaking of Mirax, I didn't expect you back here for a few more days. Any trouble on your trip?"

Mara laughed lightly at her husband's question. "I hope you're not disappointed to see me so soon," she said, somewhat dryly, before smiling again. "Actually, the trip went better than planned, and we finished up early. Mirax wanted to get back to Corellia to see Corran and the kids, and I figured since I had nothing better to do, I should come back here and spend some time with my husband." This last statement was delivered with some degree of sarcasm, but Luke could feel the affection in Mara's teasing, even without the Force.

Luke laughed. "_Nothing better to do_. I hope you're staying for a few days. It's been too long, and we need to catch up."

Mara broke out into a slightly mischievous grin. "I can think of a lot of catching up we need to do, but one or two things jump straight to the top of my list. If you have the time?"

Luke winced. His desire to reunite with Mara was overpowering, but he had another commitment he had to take care of first. _Patience is a virtue a Jedi cultivates_. At times like this, though, it was a hard maxim by which to live.

"Actually, I promised Kam I'd work over a new lesson plan with him as soon as I got back. It shouldn't take long, maybe an hour. After that?"

Mara narrowed her eyes, and affected an air of hurt, but Luke could tell she wasn't really upset. "Ok, Skywalker, I guess I can wait a while longer. But, you'll owe me, and I'm going to make you work hard to repay the favor."

Mara gave him a playful smile, and Luke smiled back, blushing just a little. "I look forward to it, Mara, my love. You've been practicing that suppression technique I taught you? I think we might need it tonight."

It was Mara's turn to blush. Barely a year ago, while on an ill-fated vacation, they had made the unwelcome discovery that some Jedi might be able to detect their strong emotional bond during certain passionate moments. Since then, they had worked up a technique that would allow them to form that bond with each other, but would prevent it from being broadcast to the rest of a moon full of Force adepts.

Hopefully. Mara wasn't quite pleased with the need for the technique. _It takes a bit of concentration, which takes some of the fun out of the experience_. _But_, she reflected, _it doesn't take very much of the fun out of it_.

"Yes, Luke, I have. You know, having to live here with a bunch of Jedi really puts a damper on the whole lovemaking thing sometimes."

Luke just laughed at her. "It's always hindered you so much in the past."

Mara laughed too, and winked at her husband. "Ok, you win. Now go, shoo, and talk to Kam. Then hurry back as fast as you can. I'll meet you in the room in about an hour."

Luke nodded. "Ok, Mara, I'm going. By the way, I love you."

Mara rolled her eyes at her husband. "I was wondering how long it would take you to say that, farmboy." She shook her head theatrically. "I love you too. See you soon."

Mara watched her husband leave, and sighed internally. _Oh, well, at least the delay will give me a few minutes to finish up this paperwork_.

* * *

Not thirty seconds after Luke had left, Mara heard another knock on the door, and a quiet voice call out "Aunt Mara, are you in there?"

It took her a moment to recognize the voice as that of Jacen Solo, her nephew and the son of Luke's sister Leia. "Yes, Jacen, I'm in here. Come in. What can I do for you?"

The young man of fourteen entered, and Mara looked at him carefully. Jacen resembled Luke in some ways, although with different eye color, and strong hints of his father mixed in as well. She could sense her nephew was trying to suppress something, something which the look on his face told her was probably a mix of embarrassment and uncertainty.

"Aunt Mara, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I heard a little of your conversation with Uncle Luke just now as I was passing by. I've been wrestling with something the past few months, and I wondered if I could talk to you about it?"

Mara paused, feeling suddenly a little apprehensive. She wasn't quite sure where this conversation with Jacen might lead, but his intro left some unpleasant options open.

"I can try, Jacen, although I'm not sure how much help I'll be. Why don't you sit down and tell me what's on your mind."

The boy moved to sit in the chair opposite Luke's desk. He looked away for a moment, as if working up the nerve to continue talking. "I've been thinking about relationships lately, especially between Jedi. I thought maybe you might have some insight, since you and Luke…"

His voice trailed off, and he looked expectantly at Mara.

Mara managed to smile at him, hoping the boy didn't sense her discomfort. "You haven't asked me a question yet, Jacen. Besides, shouldn't your mom and dad be having this talk with you?"

Jacen blushed fiercely, and Mara immediately felt sorry for the way she had phrased the question.

"Oh, we had those talks a long time ago. That's not really what I'm worried about. I don't think my parents can help me, anyway. Mom's not really a Jedi, and of course then there's Dad…" His voice trailed off again. Han, Jacen's father, was about as far from Force-sensitive as anyone Mara had ever met.

"Ok, Jacen, then what's worrying you?"

The boy paused for a moment, clearly composing his thoughts again. "Actually, that's just it. I'm not quite sure. I know the Jedi during the Old Republic weren't allowed to get married, or even to be in romantic relationships, because of the risk of falling to the dark side due to love. I guess my worry is that something like that could happen to me, if I start a relationship with someone."

Mara frowned, suddenly wary of the conversation. "Jacen, where did you hear this?"

"I heard Mom and Uncle Luke talking about it, a few months ago on Coruscant. I didn't hear exactly where the conversation went; again, I was just passing by and caught a little of it."

Mara just sat for a moment, a slight twinge of surprise and anger running through her. _Luke was talking to his sister about this?_

Mara had known for some time that her husband had concerns about the propriety of marriage among Jedi, whether between Jedi themselves or with non-Jedi. Luke was clearly pained by his misgivings, but he'd carefully tried to hide his thoughts from Mara, though she'd gotten enough snippets of concern to realize what was bothering her husband. She had decided to leave the topic alone until Luke was ready to talk about it, but she was more than slightly unhappy to learn that he had gone to his sister first, rather than talking it over with his wife.

Mara tried to push the thoughts out of her mind, knowing that she was probably making Jacen even more uncomfortable with her silence.

"Well, Jacen, you know your uncle has set aside some of the traditions of the old Order. The marriage prohibition has so far been one of the ones that's been discarded. Tell me why you think that's wrong."

Jacen gulped. He was fully aware that this might be a sensitive topic for his aunt. "I don't mean that it's necessarily wrong. It just seems to me that attachments like love can lead to the dark side, which is why the old Jedi prohibited marriage."

Mara smiled at the boy. "Jacen, you've just equated love and marriage, when in fact they're two different things. First, not all beings get married for love, but even for those who do, marriage is nothing more than a symbol of two beings' commitment to love each other until death. At the very least, you shouldn't fear marriage. It seems to me that what you really fear is love."

"Well, yes, I guess. It just seems to me so easy to slip over to the dark side because of love. What would you do, if something or someone took Uncle Luke away from you?"

Mara shook her head. "To be honest, Jacen, I don't know, just like you couldn't tell me for sure what you would do if someone took Jaina or Anakin, or your mother or father, away from you. I would hope that both of us would be strong enough to accept the loss, and to mourn it and move on with our lives. Until it happens, though, it's impossible to say."

Jacen nodded solemnly. "That's what I'm afraid of. There have been some girls here I've been, uh, close to, and my fear is that those relationships aren't right."

Mara started a bit, and her eyes went wide. "Jacen, I hope you're not telling me what I think you're telling me."

The boy blushed fiercely again. "Oh, no, Aunt Mara, nothing like that. I'm not ready…"

Mara smiled at him. "Good, because I would hate to have to have Luke sit you down to talk over this stuff. Actually, you should probably go talk to him about this, anyway. He's got a lot more experience in the relationship department than I do."

Jacen frowned. "Can I ask how, and when, you knew you loved him, and how you knew it was the right thing?"

Mara sighed. "Look, Jacen, this is something I don't talk to a lot of people about. I can tell it's important to you, and I'll share with you some of it, but you have to promise to keep it to yourself. What Luke and I have gone through is very special, and it's not something I want shared with the whole galaxy." Mara's nephew nodded somberly.

"Ok, well, I think it's easiest if I answer your second question first, the one about when I knew I loved Luke. I'm not sure I can give you a satisfactory answer, if only because I've never been able to give myself a satisfactory answer, but I'll try anyway. You know the story of how we met?"

Jacen nodded. He had been born during that time of turmoil in the galaxy, and the stories of Mara's background and her role in the Thrawn campaign were not exactly closely-held secrets, at least among the family.

"Well, looking back, I think I loved your uncle from about the beginning, or at least from around the time you were born, after I had given up wanting to kill him. It took me a decade to admit my feelings to myself, and I never really thought he felt anything like that for me, at least until our time on Nirauan.

"When he came to rescue me on that planet four years ago, it changed my outlook a little bit. When I worked for the Emperor, I was taught that love was a weakness, something that would be exploited by my enemies, so I tried to avoid the emotion altogether. I guess the only thing I really loved was freedom, and it took a symbolic gesture of giving up that freedom for me to be able to love anything else.

"When I wrecked the _Jade's Fire_ on Nirauan, that's when I really realized I loved your uncle. He stayed with me, comforted me, didn't judge me for what I thought of as my weakness. We were friends before that, and you might even say we were close in some ways, but it wasn't a strong relationship at all. Crashing the _Fire_ changed everything for me. I realized just how much was missing from my life, and I realized Luke could fill that void, but I still wasn't sure about his feelings for me. I knew he cared deeply about me, but I didn't know if he was ready or even willing to love me until later.

"We were ambushed by some droids on Nirauan, and nearly killed. During the battle, our minds linked in the Force, and we discovered feelings in each other that neither of us ever knew existed. We made it through, whether by luck or fate I don't know, and he proposed on the spot. It was very romantic."

Mara stopped for a moment, and smiled to herself, thinking back to that time. Jacen sat waiting, not wanting to disturb her, and finally she snapped out of it. "Anyway, you asked me how I know it was the right thing to do, right?"

The young man nodded. "Right. The feelings you have for Uncle Luke, aren't you afraid they will open you up to the dark side?"

Mara shook her head. "Jacen, pure love can never be of the dark side. The feelings that I have for Luke, and that he has for me, they can never be a bad thing. It's fear, vengefulness, jealousy, lust, possessiveness, all those things that can taint pure love that are of the dark side. I'm not going to tell you that loving someone won't cause you to slip over to the dark side. It can. It happened to Luke once, and I'm sure that it's happened to other Jedi in the past.

"But it's not love that does that. It's fear of loss, and pride, that cause people to slip over to the dark side. When Luke joined the Emperor reborn, or whatever he was, it was his fear of losing his family, and his overconfidence at being able to resist the temptation of the dark side, that caused him to go over to the other side. It wasn't his love of his family that caused him to fall, but it _was_ your mother's love that brought him back.

"I suppose my answer for you is this, Jacen. Don't be afraid to love. If you truly love someone, like I love Luke, no amount of wishing in the galaxy will bury those feelings anyway. Could you, for example, ever stop loving your parents, or your brother or sister? What you should watch out for are all those other emotions that mimic love, and taint it. Fear of loss, lust, possessiveness, those you have to avoid. Let the Force guide you, and you'll know the difference."

Mara suddenly realized that she had tears in her eyes. She swiped at them with the back of her hand, then smiled at her nephew. "I hope that helps some. I'm not sure how much more insight I can give you. You really should talk to Luke. He has a lot more experience with love than I do."

Jacen nodded. "Thank you, Aunt Mara. I think it's given me something to think about, anyway." He gave her a quick hug, and left.

_I hope I helped him, at least a little_. Jacen was prone to introspection, and he was liable to drive himself crazy trying to examine this topic from every conceivable angle. _Maybe I should have Kam or Corran talk to him, too_. Both were married, and each man could give her nephew a very different take on the subject.

Mara looked at her chrono, and was startled to find she was already late for her rendezvous with Luke. _Well, at least that talk with Jacen kept my mind off the waiting, anyway_. She headed to the quarters she shared with her husband, already anticipating what was to come. In the back of her mind, though, she also knew that tonight, maybe, they'd finally work through this whole issue of Jedi marriage.

* * *

Hours later, Mara lay silently in her husband's arms. She could feel Luke's heavy breathing, and could tell he was drifting off, although his mind was active enough that she knew he wasn't quite asleep yet. Meanwhile, she could feel anxiety building in her own mind, as she thought of her conversation with Jacen.

Mara took a deep breath. _I guess it's time_.

"Luke, are you asleep? Can we talk for a few minutes?"

Mara could sense his thoughts kick up a little more. Clearly she had spoken just in time.

"Sure, Mara, what's on your mind? By the way, what took you so long to make it back here this evening?"

Mara sighed. "Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Right after you left, Jacen came in. He wanted to talk about something with me."

This piqued Luke's interest, although just a little. "Oh, what was it?"

"Jedi marriage."

Mara winced as she felt the jolt in Luke's mind. He came fully awake in an instant, and she could feel a swirl of emotion, although he regained control admirably quickly. His voice gave away only cautious interest.

"That seems a strange thing for him to be worrying about at his age. What brought this on?"

Mara rolled over to face her husband. "Actually, two things. First, he overheard part of our conversation in your office…"

Luke grunted, and she knew why. The conversation had not been something that either had wanted a teenaged relative to overhear.

"What was the second reason?"

Mara sighed again. "He also overheard you talking to Leia about the subject, a few months ago on Coruscant. I think he's questioning the policies of the new Order on the subject, given the opposite stance of the old Order."

Luke was silent. Completely silent, actually, and barely breathing. Mara reached out with the Force, trying to _lightly_ touch his thoughts, but instead found a brick wall.

She could feel a touch of anger rising in herself. _I have to try to be diplomatic, understanding even_. _No matter how hard that might be_. She took another deep breath, trying to calm her nerves.

"Luke, I wish you'd let me in. I've known for the past few years that you've been struggling with this. I'm more than a little hurt that you went to your sister instead of coming to me. I thought we were closer than that."

She looked at his eyes, and was surprised to find a few small tears developing. This was rather unusual for Luke, and her voice cracked a little with her next words.

"Stop it, Luke. You know I can't take it when you cry."

She was surprised again to feel a wave of comfort wash over her. Her husband had always been able to calm her in that way, even when he was hurting, as she knew he was now.

"Sorry, Mara. Let me try to explain…"

Mara laughed, in spite of the somber nature of the discussion. "Do, or do not, Skywalker."

Luke chuckled too. _Try_ was a word he had worked very hard to remove from his vocabulary, but he still had not quite managed the feat. "I will do, Mara. It's a long story. I hope you'll bear with me." Mara nodded.

"Yoda told me, during my training, about the prohibitions of the old Order. I really didn't give it much thought, until years later when I started the Academy. When Corran came to train, he was already married, and I just accepted the matter. Clearly there was nothing I could do about it at that point. It really wasn't until Kam and Tionne got married that I started to have misgivings, but I let it go forward anyway.

"Yoda never really gave me instructions for this, and we had already discarded so many of the old Order's ways. I'm sure there were many other things they did that we still don't know about, even with some of the old Jedi we've run across — Callista, and others."

Mara stopped him. "If it worried you so much, Luke, why didn't you say something on Nirauan?"

Luke shook his head. "When I proposed to you, I _knew_ it was the right thing to do. I never had any doubts, not until things had settled down a bit after the wedding. I still didn't have doubts about my feelings for you, of course, but the worries about marriage started to pop back up again about two years ago.

"With how busy I've been at the Academy the past few years, not to mention our little adventure with the Outbound Flight, I hadn't really gotten a chance to work this out for myself. I knew I needed to resolve the issue, once and for all. I really did mean to talk to you, really, Mara. But I decided I wanted a more unbiased opinion first. You have to admit that you have a vested interest in this topic."

Mara could feel some anger rising in her, and her tone held more than a hint of accusation. "I could be fair, Luke, and you still went to your _sister_. That's not exactly an unbiased source either. She's married, and she's at least partially a Jedi."

Luke smiled at her, and it almost set her off completely, but his words surprised her. "Actually, I didn't talk to Leia about this. Not really, anyway. I told her that I was on Coruscant to work on this problem, which I assume is the conversation Jacen overheard, but Leia and I didn't discuss the topic beyond that."

Mara's anger had given way completely to confusion. "Ok, then, who did you go there to see?"

Luke smiled at her again. "Elegos, as you might have guessed."

Elegos A'Kla was a Camaasi senator, and a close friend of both Leia and of Corran Horn. Camaasi were known as a wise race, and Jedi had been rumored to have sought them out over the course of millennia when they needed advice on difficult topics.

Mara gave Luke a small smile. "And he helped you figure out what to do about all this?"

"No. We talked, but he's never been married, and in his opinion his experience was rather insufficient to help me with the problem."

Mara was starting to get confused. "Ok. I'm assuming, since you've told me this much, that you _have_ worked something out. Who did you end up going to?"

Luke gave her a sly smile. "Ikrit."

"_What?! _Anakin's _pet?!_" Mara was certain now that her husband was simply stringing her along.

Luke laughed out loud. "I suppose it's time you knew, Mara. Ikrit is not really a pet. He's a sapient being, a Kushiban. And, a 400-year-old Jedi Master."

Mara was on the edge of being irate. "_Why didn't you tell me?! _Where did he come from, and why is he masquerading as Anakin's pet?"

Luke smiled at Mara again. "I will tell you the whole story soon, dear, but let's get through the Jedi marriage thing first. Ikrit can wait. Suffice to say, he was a Master in the old Order, trained in part by Yoda himself, and possibly the only being in the galaxy who could give me insight into the ways of the previous Jedi Order."

Mara narrowed her eyes a bit at him. "Fine, I can wait on that story for a bit. But you're going to _pay_ for keeping that secret from me for the past year."

Luke chuckled, as he got the strong sense through the Force that Mara's threat was in jest, and that she was completely perplexed rather than actually angry.

"I'm sure I will. Anyway, Ikrit set me straight. In essence, he helped me realize that I had a simple choice to make. That, basically, I had to either prohibit Jedi from attachments, as the old Order did, knowing full well that some Jedi will ignore that order, and that a few of those will fall to the dark side because of it. Or, on the other hand, I and the other Masters could help each individual Jedi determine where to draw the proverbial line in the sand.

"The old Jedi Order told all Jedi to draw that line in one specific spot. They were to accept love, but reject attachments. This was done, as I gather, because to accept attachments but reject jealousy is much harder. So, the Jedi drew the line between love and attachment. Ikrit's claim is that each Jedi must choose, regardless of the will of the Masters of the Order, where they will draw their own line. Thus, if we choose to accept attachments, we have a greater responsibility to help our Jedi learn to reject jealousy, fear of loss, anger, and everything that can stem from attachment. So my choice is simple. Do I prohibit attachments, and maybe keep a few from falling at the expense of diminishing the free will of many, or do I allow the Order some measure of trust, knowing that some may fall to the dark side as a result?

Mara felt a wave of apprehension wash over her. Despite his story, she still could not be sure exactly what his decision had been.

Luke seemed to sense her fears. "Mara, you know that nothing could ever keep me from loving you. You're everything in the galaxy to me, and in the end there was only one choice I could conceivably make. I had to find in favor of marriage. I'm a better man for being with you, and I know the same is true for Corran and Mirax, and for Kam and Tionne, and Leia and Han, and all the others.

"Yoda never really prepared me to make this choice. Ikrit told me that Yoda did this by design, allowing me to determine my own path because my solutions to some problems might be better than anything Yoda could conceive. In the end, my father's attachment to me ended up redeeming him and killing Palpatine, and I'm fairly certain that that result was not something Yoda had envisioned.

"Attachments are just an extension of love, and pure love can never be evil, just like attachments themselves are not evil. All those things that sometimes go along with attachments, fear, possessiveness, vengeance, those are what are evil. Some of the Jedi might fall to those feelings, but all of the Jedi will be tremendously weakened if we prohibit them from all attachments."

Luke paused as he noticed Mara was shaking, and could see tears forming in her eyes. "Mara, what's wrong?"

She shook her head as she squeezed her arms tightly around her husband. "Nothing is wrong, Luke. It's just that you've reminded me yet again how perfect we are for each other. You just said the exact same thing I told Jacen a few hours ago. I'm not sad, just tremendously happy. This issue has kept us from being as close as we could be for years now, and if it's really decided, then it's one more barrier between us that can come down."

Luke nodded. "It is decided, Mara, once and for all. I'm sorry to have kept this from you for so long. I thought I was hiding it well; I'm amazed you didn't force the issue sooner."

Mara nodded back at him. "I have to admit, that would have been in character for me, at least until a few years ago. But even with the depth of our connection, we occasionally need some privacy, and I wanted to give you that. When I was struggling with my feelings for the Empire of the Hand, you gave me space to work through it on my own. I wanted to return the favor."

Luke pulled Mara close, kissing her passionately. He broke off after a moment, looking deeply into her green eyes. Neither moved for a moment, both feeling their emotions rising up to join together. Since Nirauan this bond in the Force had been easily formed, but the depth of the bond in tender moments like this was tremendous.

This time it was even stronger, and Mara was startled to encounter no discernible barriers in her husband. Even in their most intimate moments before, there had been small barriers, but they were gone now. Mara reveled in the feeling for a long moment, then felt it subside as Luke prepared to speak again.

"Ok, so that's settled. Now, tell me why Jacen came to you. He can't be thinking about marriage itself at this stage, so something else must have precipitated it."

Mara shook her head, and a slight grin formed on her face. "No, not marriage. He told me he had been…close, to some of the young women at the Academy, and that he was worried that those feelings were inappropriate, and could lead to the dark side."

Mara could feel Luke's anxiety, and a look at his face showed developing horror there. "He seemed interested in Tenel Ka at one point. They didn't…" His voice trailed off, so clearly uncomfortable he was with the subject.

Mara laughed. "I asked him the same thing. He said, no, he's not ready for intimacy on that level. I think he's just worried about relationships in general."

Luke's relief was so great that his mimicry of Threepio in his response of "thank the Maker" didn't even register to him as odd, although it made Mara blink twice.

He continued. "I may have to have a talk with Jacen."

Mara nodded. "I told him the same thing, dear husband. After all, you have much more experience with love and romantic relationships than I'll ever acquire."

Luke winced. "Mara, you know those other women…"

Mara put a finger to his lips, then withdrew it and kissed him. "I know all about those other women you've loved, Luke. The ones you were intimate with, Callista and Akanah, and the ones you weren't, like Gaeriel and the others. You love easily, Luke, and I love that about you. Without that, I could never have opened up to loving you. All those other experiences led you to me, and I don't fear your past loves, nor the feelings you still have for them."

Luke smiled. "You don't need to fear my past, Mara, nor our future. I love you, faithfully, now and forever."

Mara smiled back. "I know you do, Luke. We're connected in a way that probably no two other beings can match, and that makes us the luckiest two people in the galaxy. I'll never have to fear for our love, for that reason, and you won't either."

She paused for a moment, then pulled him closer and whispered softly in his ear, "Not that the occasional reminder isn't appreciated. If you're not too tired…"

She looked at him, seeing the twinkle in his icy blue eyes, and his quiet smile.

She felt his warmth as he pulled her close. "No, Mara, never too tired."


	11. Jade Anniversary

**29 ABY**

**_Jade Anniversary_**

Luke and Mara celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary.

* * *

Mara looked around with some disgust. "I think I preferred our cave on Zonama Sekot." She glanced over to her husband, whose brow was furled in apparent discomfort at their surroundings.

Luke finally sighed and shook his head. "At least it's better than Bonadan."

The end of the Yuuzhan Vong War weeks earlier had been hailed as a return to normalcy for the galaxy, but the Skywalkers' lives were anything but normal. Their home on Coruscant was buried under the Vongforming on that planet, and the temples of Yavin IV had been similarly destroyed.

Thus, as with untold trillions of others, the galaxy's most famous Jedi couple was homeless. Both Luke and Mara had lived in enough different places over the course of their lives that Mara's ship, the _Jade Shadow_, was as close to home as anything else could be, but both longed for something more permanent.

Ostensibly, they were on vacation. Unfortunately, they were on vacation with the Solos. Luke and Mara were extremely close with Han and Leia, Luke's sister, but right now both regretted agreeing to this trip. Their tenth anniversary had snuck up on them to a certain extent, given the devastation of the Yuuzhan Vong War, but neither wanted to mark this occasion surrounded by the smog and factories of Ession. Unfortunately, their wedding anniversary was tomorrow, and it was now too late to avoid such an outcome.

Mara looked out the window for a moment before sadly shaking her head and sitting down. The couch on which she sat, hard and lumpy with a low back, was a standard representation of what passed for furniture in luxury hotels on the forsaken industrial world of Ession. She was not impressed.

Luke was not usually one to repeat himself, but in this instance he was helpless to resist. His voice now was quiet, and almost sad. "At least it's better than Bonadan."  
Mara sighed. "Did your brother-in-law really have to choose the _Corporate Sector_ as his dream vacation spot?"

Luke shrugged. "I don't really know what he was thinking. He _has_ been here before…"

The Skywalkers and Solos had spent their first post-war week on Bonadan. _That _planet had been even worse than Ession. Extensively mined, Bonadan was polluted and foul-smelling to the extreme, an industrial wasteland to make pre-war Duro look like a paradise. Ession was slightly better. Here it took only an extensive search to find an example of native flora, rather than an exhaustive one.

And yet, Han and Leia seemed to be having a great time. _Granted_, Luke thought wryly_, all Han needs is a place to work on the _Falcon_ to have a great time_. The average Corporate Sector world was no problem in that regard, and Luke's sister seemed to be enjoying just spending time with her husband.

Mara, on the other hand, was less-than-happy, and she had no compunction about showing it, at least in front of Luke. "I can't believe your sister has been married to Solo for more than twenty years. I would have killed him long ago. Sometimes it seems like I've been with _you_ far too long, and they were ten years and three kids in when you and I got together."

Many a man might have been upset or offended by such a statement from his wife. Luke simply laughed. His bond in the Force with Mara was as strong as ever, and her words carried intense undercurrents of love and affection, despite her obvious displeasure with their current situation.

_Thank the Force that Leia was willing to watch Ben for a few hours_. Luke knew Mara's pattern in these instances extremely well. A bit of witty banter and teasing between husband and wife, at the right tender moment, almost always got Mara going. Luke had been in enough relationships to know that this was somewhat unusual in a woman, although for him it worked exceedingly well.

It was also possible, _sometimes_, to short-circuit the process. Given the lack of viable alternatives for activities on the industrial wasteland that was Ession, Luke decided to gamble. Thus, instead of directly responding to Mara's comment, Luke pulled her to her feet and kissed her deeply.

Mara practically melted into his arms, and they held their embrace for a long moment. Finally, Luke felt his wife pull away, and he opened his eyes to see a devious smile on Mara's face.

"Nice sentiment, Skywalker, but keep it zipped."

Luke's own smile faded slightly as he raised his eyebrows in semi-amusement. This was not exactly how he had expected the moment to develop.

Mara chuckled a bit at his obvious confusion. "You're dreaming, farmboy, if you think I'm _ever_ going anywhere near that bed over there in something less than a full vac suit, let alone naked."

Luke pretended for a moment to be disappointed, but found he couldn't keep up the act. Breaking the façade, he laughed. "Why should that stop us? I'm sure Han has one of Chewie's old suits lying around on the _Falcon_. I'll bet we could both fit into that…"

It had been nearly five years since Chewbacca's death, and although the pain of the Wookiee's passing was still present for both Luke and Mara, they were far enough removed from the event itself to be able to lightly joke about such things. Chewie had been nearly as devoted and loyal to Luke as he had been to Han, and Luke suspected that Chewbacca would have no problem with his plan for repurposing an old vac suit.

Mara, however, wrinkled her nose at this suggestion. "Ugh. Can you imagine how _bad_ that suit would end up smelling?"

Luke simply narrowed his eyes at her, but his tone was playful. "Nevertheless, I've come up with a sensible alternative to counter your objection. Do you have another concern, or shall I go and borrow a vac suit from Han?"

Mara waved him towards the room's door with a "be my guest" gesture. As Luke turned to walk towards the door, though, Mara grabbed him from behind by the waist. Spinning her husband around, she shoved him roughly into the wall.

"Forget the bed. I have a better idea."

* * *

Luke awoke in a good mood the next morning. Mara's objections to the bed had, fortunately, faded away rather quickly the previous evening. Leia had returned their son Ben to them just after dinnertime, thus Luke and Mara had gotten a blissful four hours alone together. The evening's activities had left both exhausted, and blessedly, Ben had slept soundly through the night, allowing the Skywalkers a much-needed nine standard hours of sleep.

Luke did not move for a long moment. Mara's right arm was draped across his chest, and their right legs were hopelessly intertwined. Luke was still considering how to extricate himself from Mara without waking her when he felt his wife begin to stir.

Mara was not a morning person. This fact was belied by her eyes, which were always impossibly clear even immediately upon awakening, lacking the unfocused haze inherent to most humans post-slumber. Today was no exception, and twin emeralds sparkled at Luke as Mara gave him a small and almost impish smile.

"Good morning, farmboy." Her greeting was delivered in a quiet whisper, so as not to wake their nearly 3-year-old son Ben, still sleeping soundly on a small cot a few feet from the Skywalkers' bed.

Luke rolled onto his side to kiss his wife, morning breath and all. "Happy anniversary, Mara."

Mara smirked. "Oh yeah, I guess that _is_ today, isn't it."

Luke was not convinced for a femtosecond that she had forgotten, but played along by glaring accusingly at her for a moment. Finally he broke the look with a smile. "Can you believe it's been ten years?"

Mara's amused laugh was a bit too loud, and she looked over at Ben with some guilt before responding. Fortunately, the boy did not stir.

"I can't believe it's been ten years _and_ I've managed to keep from killing you." Her voice softened considerably. "I guess that means we're destined to be together forever."

Luke chuckled lightly. "I could have told you that ten years ago." After kissing his wife one more time, he rolled out of bed and headed to the refresher to prepare for the day, leaving Mara the duty of waking Ben.

* * *

There were only a few things a tourist could do on Ession. Shopping was one of those things. The Corporate Sector had been mostly untouched by the war, and a number of new clothing boutiques had opened in the past year to cater to wealthy refugees from Core planets.

The war, and the life of a Jedi Master in general, had both left Mara with little use for fancy clothes. Most of her wardrobe had been lost on Coruscant, and what was left consisted mostly of work outfits – jumpsuits, fatigues, and Jedi robes. Thus, given the chance to acquire the beginnings of a new wardrobe on Ession, Mara seized the opportunity.

She found a kindred spirit in Leia. The two women left Ben in the care of Han and Luke and wandered through the shops for several hours, trading commentary on various dresses and, both men agreed, no doubt also trading sarcastic comments on their beloved husbands.

Luke and Han took Ben on a quick trip through a toy store, where Luke found and purchased a small bronzium model of the _Millennium Falcon_ for Ben. This entertained Luke's son for hours, although Luke quickly grew tired of Han's criticisms of the_ egregious_ errors in the toy's form and decoration. The men soon found a quiet cantina, where they settled in to wait for their wives, passing the hours in friendly conversation as they watched Ben play with his new toy.

Hours later, the Solos and Skywalkers separated for the night, having had a decent meal together for what seemed like the first time in years. Returning to their quarters, Ben rushed through to the adjoining sitting room to watch his favorite holoprogram, an animated Ewok adventure that was one of the few programs still being regularly-broadcast after the war. Remaining in the bedroom, Luke drew Mara in for a long kiss.

As they broke off, Luke sensed through the Force an odd dissonance in Mara. He looked at her with some concern and asked, "What's wrong?"

Mara smiled at him gently. "Nothing's wrong. I've just gotten used to your grand romantic gestures, and I half-expected to come back here tonight to… well, something besides an empty room." Despite this, Luke got no sense of actual disappointment from her, only light amusement.

Luke sighed and shook his head as he looked away for a moment, then chuckled lightly. "I _tried_. I really did. There's not a single candle to be found on this rotten planet, let alone velanie flowers, scented oils, or anything else I tried to get. Ask Han. I was on the comm for hours yesterday trying to find _something_."

Mara smiled coyly at her husband. "You can make it up to me someday. I'll let you off the hook _this time_, on account of our circumstances." She narrowed her eyes threateningly. "But I expect to be _seriously_ impressed when you do make it up to me."

Luke laughed. "Deal." Leaning forward, he kissed her on the nose.

Mara smiled at him again, a brilliant look that lit up her face and made her green eyes sparkle. "By the way, I got you a little something. You'll have to wait a few days, though. It's waiting for you on Ossus."

Luke appraised his wife carefully, trying to get a hint of the surprise, but her neither her features nor the Force gave away anything but her amusement. Finally he shrugged.

"Ok." Producing a small box, he handed it to Mara. "I got you something, too. Happy anniversary."

Opening the box, she gasped.

Inside was a small pendant, suspended by a simple chain. Made of agrinium, it was shaped in a two-dimensional representation of the galaxy. Embedded in the pendant were dozens of tiny emeralds, each inscribed with a different rune. In the center was a larger emerald, also inscribed. Mara was still staring at the necklace when Luke spoke again.

"I went with emeralds to match your eyes. The glyphs on them are Dathomiri. Teneniel Djo helped me with that part at first, then Tenel Ka helped with the last few after her mother died."

Mara still hadn't looked up, so Luke continued. "Each of the gems is set in its place to represent a specific planet or system, and the glyphs are meant to represent a step in our relationship. The stone for Wayland has a symbol meaning 'friend'. The stone for Nirauan means 'lover'. The Coruscant stone represents 'wife'. The stone marking the Colu system represents 'mother'."

There were a number of others, and Luke explained them all. Yavin 4 – learner. Myrkr – warrior. Dantooine – aunt. Almania – savior. Borleias – protector. Selonia – negotiator. Ossus – teacher. On he went, until only the center stone was left.

Luke paused before continuing. "The glyph on the center stone doesn't really translate well into Basic. The stone is set in the center of the galaxy, and the symbol loosely means both 'angel' and 'everything'."

He blushed a bit, although Mara, still looking at the pendant, missed it. "After all, you are the center of my galaxy, my angel, and my everything."

It took a moment for Mara to respond, but finally she did, quietly. "Skywalker, that is without a doubt the most nauseatingly sweet thing anyone has ever said to me."

But when she finally looked up, Luke saw the tears in her eyes.


	12. Jade Reflection

_**JADE REFLECTION**_

**20 ABY **- About one year after _Union_

Mara, Mirax, and Leia share drinks and stories.

* * *

"Mara!"

The unexpected shout of her name turned Mara Jade Skywalker's head. Already she recognized the voice, but it took her a moment to locate the source – Mirax Horn.

The Corellian smuggler-turned-wife-to-a-Jedi-Knight was across the hangar, waving at Mara from the foot of the former's ship, the _Pulsar Skate_. Mara smiled to herself as she crossed the hangar to briefly embrace her friend.

Mirax had indeed become a friend in the past few years. They had been professional acquaintances previously, but their newfound friendship had even deepened their working relationship of late. More and more often recently, Mara and Mirax had found themselves working together, despite Mara's ever-diminishing duties under Talon Karrde's Smugglers' Alliance.

Breaking their embrace, Mara smiled lightly at her friend. "Mirax, what are you doing here?"

"I had a short time off, and I stopped by hoping to see my husband." Mirax's wife was Corran Horn. Previously a pilot in Rogue Squadron, he had discovered latent Force ability and had trained at the Jedi Academy at the same time as Mara. Neither had completed their training at the time. Now, years later, both were Jedi Knights.

"The end of the war and his retirement were supposed to give us more time together, but your husband has him running around doing so many things for the Jedi that I see him even less now than when he was with Rogue Squadron."

Mara grunted in semi-amusement, her mood darkening a bit. "I know what you mean." Luke Skywalker, Mara's husband and leader of the Jedi Order, was gone so often that Mara saw less of him now than she had before they were married.

Or so it often seemed, anyway. In the back of her mind, Mara might admit that their newly-discovered love might only make these prolonged absences seem interminable, when in reality they had seen each other much less frequently in the ten years they had known each other prior to their marriage.

Nevertheless, she refused to speak such things out loud. Her well-honed reputation as an ice queen would not long survive if others realized the wistful feelings that often overcame her these days, and she was not yet ready to set aside her previous persona.

Mirax was oblivious to the thoughts running through Mara's mind. "So, is Corran around somewhere?"

The question dragged Mara back to the here and now. She narrowed her eyes, and nodded cautiously. "Yes, he's around somewhere, although I think Luke has him running an overnight wilderness survival session with some of the advanced students. I doubt you'll be able to see him until tomorrow morning, unless you want to try to track him down in the forests tonight."

Mirax visibly blanched. "Um, no thanks." Yavin 4's forests were well-known for the variety of dangerous wildlife that roamed freely, seeking an easy meal.

Mara chuckled lightly. "You're welcome to stick around tonight. Leia's here, too. We planned to get together and have few drinks, since Luke's busy and Han's off who-knows-where."

Mirax brightened some. "Sounds like fun. I'm in."

* * *

"…but I finally managed to get away with the help of a Human Replica Droid. He was completely oblivious to the fact it wasn't me, and ended up trying to marry it. I can't tell you how relieving and satisfying it was when I heard that the droid killed him at the altar."

Mara visibly shuddered. "I met Trioculus once on Kessel. Palpatine thought that Grand Moff Hissa was diverting glitterstim shipments for his own gain, and sent me to investigate. I never did find any evidence, but that was one of the worst assignments I ever had. Trioculus was a creep even then. Between his rise to power and Isard's, I couldn't leave the Empire fast enough after Palpatine was killed."

All three women had indulged rather liberally in the limited amount of alcohol available at the Jedi Academy in the past three hours, and the end result was a collective reminiscing about previous relationships.

Mirax laughed out loud. "So that was your worst relationship, Leia?"

Mara's sister-in-law shook her head. "I wouldn't exactly call it a relationship. I tried to avoid him as much as possible. Though he might not even be the worst suitor I've ever had."

Mara narrowed her eyes in surprise. "No?"

Leia hung her head in shame. "Well, there was that one time that I almost slept with Prince Xizor."

Mirax nearly choked on her drink, while Mara let out a surprised laugh.

Leia huffed a bit. "Don't make fun. Have either of you ever been under the influence of Falleen pheromones? No? I didn't think so."

Leia continued. "Thank the Force that Chewbacca was able to pull me away from that situation. Killing Xizor was one of the only good things Vader ever did."

Mirax raised her glass in a mock salute. "I think 'Black Sun crime lord' takes the rhyscate as far as bad suitors goes. Still not a relationship, though, at least the way you're telling it…"

Leia shook her head. "No, I guess not. Most of my relationships have been short-lived. I did date the Mandalore at one point while Han was frozen in carbonite. Looking back on it, that was pretty bad."

Mara's eyes went wide. "Boba Fett?"

"No, he wasn't Mandalore yet. Plus, he was the one who took Han captive, so any date we would have had would have consisted of me shooting him in the head. No, the one before him. Fenn Shysa."

Mirax again laughed loudly, somewhat affected by the alcohol. "You sure have had your fair share of bad encounters with men, Leia."

"Not to mention the time you kissed your brother."

Mara's muttered comment was not meant to be overheard. In this she failed. This time, Mirax did choke on her drink, while Leia glared daggers at her sister-in-law.

Mirax finally managed to stop coughing long enough to respond. "_What?!_"

Leia sighed deeply. "You _mynock_…"

Mara laughed at that. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself."

Leia continued. "I can't believe Luke told you. He has to be as embarrassed about that as I am."

"More, I think. But he's terrible at keeping secrets from me. Force-bond, and all that."

Turning to Mirax, Leia told the story. "It was on Hoth, before we found out we were related. In my defense, I never really had feelings like that for Luke. I mostly just did it to make Han jealous. Which worked wonders, by the way. Highly recommended as a technique, although it probably works better if you choose someone you're not related to."

Leia narrowed her eyes mischievously. "Your turn, Mirax."

The brown-haired woman gave a small sigh. "Fine. I don't have anything in my past nearly so scandalous. Just the usual assortment of ex-boyfriends and flings on random worlds, same as pretty much any female smuggler, I'd imagine." Neither woman noticed Mara pale slightly at the aside.

Mirax took a long sip of whiskey before continuing. "Probably the only good story was the time my father caught me with one of his crew members."

Mara raised her eyebrows. "Oh?"

Mirax chuckled. "I was a teenager, and he was about my age, maybe a few years older. A handsome boy from a middle-class Corellian family. I never heard how he ended up working for Booster, but he mostly loaded and unloaded my father's more… _legitimate_ cargo at various ports-of-call. Anyway, I think he was fairly bored, and we got together a few times. We thought we were being discrete about it, but I think almost everyone on the ship knew except for my father.

"It only lasted a few weeks, then Booster caught us in a rather, um… _immodest_ state one night in my quarters aboard ship. That ended things quickly."

Mara, who knew Mirax's father well, laughed. "I imagine that Booster didn't take it very well."

Mirax sighed theatrically. "You might say that. Booster pulled him off me and dragged him out of the room. Fairly immediately, as you can imagine, I find myself chasing my father down the passageway, pretty much naked, begging him not to eject the kid from the nearest airlock. Of course, meanwhile every single being on the ship is standing in the doorways to their individual quarters, watching all this unfold."

Mara and Leia, both howling with laughter, took a moment to settle down. Finally, Leia responded. "So what happened?"

"The ship's first mate, this grisly old man probably twenty years my father's senior, eventually managed to pull Booster off the boy. He got my father calmed down enough to get him to lock him in his quarters, instead of ejecting him into space. A few days later, we set down on one of the stations orbiting Duro. My father dumped the kid there with all of his stuff, and we left. I never found out what happened to him after that."

Leia wiped some tears from her eyes. "That's quite a story."

"Well, it's the life of a smuggler's daughter. Booster was so overprotective that I ended up rebelling like that on occasion. Once Corran's father sent mine to Kessel and I was forced to take over the family business, I settled down some."

Mara chuckled. "What does Corran think about all that?"

Mirax smirked. "He pretends to understand, although I'm sure privately he's horrified. He's not allowed to criticize, anyway. He has just as many embarrassing things in his past."

"Oh?" Mara was intrigued by this, always interested in having embarrassing information on Corran, one of her closest friends among the Jedi.

"Ugh, he'll kill me if I tell you this."

Mara smirked in some amusement. "I'll stop him. He never could take me in any kind of fight."

Mirax and Leia both laughed at that. "Ok, fine. There's nothing too salacious. An affair with someone he was protecting while he was at CorSec, for example. It could have gotten him fired, I guess, but other than that it was pretty tame, at least as he tells it. He and Iella nearly had an affair, too, while they were working together, but it never quite happened. _And under no circumstances should either of you tell her that I told you about it_."

Both Mara and Leia nodded at this. Iella Wessiri had been Corran's partner in CorSec. In addition to serving as a bridesmaid in Mara's wedding, she was married to Wedge Antilles, one of Mirax's childhood friends and Corran's former commander in Rogue Squadron.

"Other than that, really, the most embarrassing story he has is the time when he slept with that Selonian. Chertyl-something."

Mara's surprise was obvious. "A Selonian, _really_?"

Leia frowned slightly. "I wouldn't have taken you two for xenophobes."

Mirax laughed a bit. "We're not, I promise. Granted, human-Selonian pairings are unusual, even in the Corellian system. There were some other aspects that made this particular story interesting."

She paused a moment. "Instead of me telling you, though, I'm going to suggest you ask Iella next time you see her. She tells it much better than I do. If possible, ask her about it in Corran's presence. It's even funnier when he's there to squirm as she tells the story."

* * *

While Mara enjoyed the other women's stories, she was privately dreading the inevitable path the conversation was leading. Finally, hours after the women had started drinking, the moment arrived.

"Ok, Mara, your turn. Most embarrassing relationship, or worst one."

Mara was silent for a long moment. _Oh boy, how do I answer this one?_

"Well, that's complicated. I've had so many fake relationships, where I've had to pretend to be with someone for the purposes of some mission, either for Palpatine or later for Karrde. Lando, for example. We were never actually dating, but we had to pretend to be together for years. Situations like that can cause a lot of discomfort."

Both Leia and Mirax blinked in surprise at this information. Mara's history with Lando was well-known, but few knew that it had simply been a cover story. Mara could tell that Leia was about to ask for more details, and quickly continued, cutting her sister-in-law off.

"Of my _real_ relationships, well…. I guess you can say that I've never actually _had_ a bad relationship, or even an embarrassing one."

Mirax gave her a disbelieving look. "You're kidding."

Mara blushed a little bit. "Well…" _Blast, this is embarrassing_. "I never really had a real relationship with a man. Before Luke, that is. Not even a one-night fling, for that matter."

Neither woman responded immediately. Finally, Mirax asked quietly, in a near whisper, "Really?"

Leia, for her part, merely sat in stunned silence. Mara could feel her cheeks reddening further, and tried to brush it off as no big deal. "Yes, really. I guess I never had the chance…"

Mirax raised an eyebrow at that. "Knowing many of the men you've worked with the past few years, Mara, I have trouble believing that."

Mara felt a stab of discomfort deep in her stomach. _How do you explain, to two of your best friends in the galaxy, that your life was so screwed up by Palpatine that you were never able to trust someone enough? Not enough for even the faintest expression of intimacy. Not enough for even a transient, throw-away, stress-relieving one-night fling. How do you admit that not even your own husband fully realizes just how bad things were for you back then?_

Some part of Mara yearned desperately to share this with her friends. The past year with Luke had changed her life almost completely, but the part of her that refused to trust others, even her closest friends, with her innermost demons was not completely gone. So, instead, she resorted to her usual defense mechanism – sarcasm.

"Well, _obviously_ I had plenty of chances, Mirax. But not everyone hops into bed with shipmates just because they're bored."

Mara was internally wincing even as she said this, knowing full well that she was in danger of crossing the line from humor to insult. She could sense some mild shock from Leia, although Mirax, to her credit, just gave her an amused look.

"Well, then, you've missed out. Sex for recreation really helps pass the time, not to mention the light-years, during those boring times between planetary layovers."

Leia finally spoke up. "I can't believe you managed to go nearly forty years without, well, you know…"

Mara blushed again as Mirax snickered. "You must have gotten really good at taking care of things yourself." Mirax paused for a moment, then grinned slyly. "Is there a Force technique to help with that?"

Some of Mara's anxiety was beginning to drain away, and she chuckled lightly. "If there is, Luke's been keeping it to himself." Slightly affected by the alcohol, she was uninhibited enough to say, "Seems like something he might do".

"Hey, that's my brother." Leia was displeased, and voiced her objection.

Mirax laughed. "Speaking of Luke, he had quite the reputation as a ladies' man back in the early days of the Rebellion. That must be uncomfortable for you, Mara, given your romantic history, or apparently your lack thereof." This dragged the conversation into an uncomfortable silence yet again.

Mara's response, after a moment, was a snarky "Ha! _No_. He might have chased a lot of women, but he rarely caught them, as I understand it."

Internally, her thought process was different. _Luke is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. Most of the time his past doesn't bother me. I didn't know him for the majority of it, and when I did, we were both too screwed up by our own lives to see the potential life we could have had together. _Still, Mara was honest enough to admit, if only to herself, that Luke's past life _did_ sometimes bother her. _I hate that it does, but that doesn't stop me from feeling that way sometimes_. She wondered occasionally if these petty jealousies would ever pass.

Mirax, meanwhile, was oblivious to Mara's inner conflict, and kept talking. "Still, even if he didn't, he still has more experience than you. I know how_ I_ feel about Corran's past…"

Mara was starting to relax again, finally, and gave Mirax her best imitation of an innocent smile. "Well, I've ruined him for other women now, and I'm sure I've made him forget all about those _others_ in his past." Her green eyes took on a gleam as she continued. "Plus, he obviously learned a lot from those previous… experiences. Couple that with a Jedi Master's stamina, and, _oh my_…"

Leia's objection was a little more vociferous this time. "Again, _hey_, that's my _brother_!"

Mara's halfhearted apology was cut off as a quiet knock came from the door of her quarters. After a moment, it opened to admit Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master.

"Sorry to interrupt, ladies, but I wondered if I could borrow my wife for a few minutes?"

"Are you sure a few minutes will be enough?"

At Mirax's response, Mara nearly choked on her laughter, while Leia turned bright red.

Luke could only stand with a bemused expression on his face. His response of "What's so funny?" only caused Mirax and Mara to laugh even harder.


End file.
